British angler terminates suspected man-eating mutant catfish in India

The goonch is a huge catfish that can weigh as much as a man. It lives in the Great Kali River, between India and Nepal - often used to dispose of human bodies after Hindu funeral cremations. Some of the bodies are only partially burnt.

Having acquired a taste for homo sapiens, the catfish may start poaching live human victims. As documented by Jim Corbett in his classic “Man-eaters of Kumaon”, this phenomenon was observed among tigers and leopards in this very part of India, who became man-eaters either after serious injuries, e.g. from porcupine quills, or after acquiring the taste for human flesh, especially when epidemics made available a large number of partially burnt human remains.

Biologist and expert fisherman Jeremy Wade decided to track the suspected killer catfish for a Channel Five documentary. Called the Flesh Eating River Monster – Wade’s adventure was recently seen on Channel Five TV in Britain.

A few freak individuals always grow bigger than average "and if you throw in extra food, they will grow even bigger," he says. Mr Wade managed to land a giant goonch which weighed 161lb and was nearly 6ft long - the biggest of its species ever caught. He said: "If that got hold of you, there would be no getting away."

The goonch is thought to be responsible for the disappearance of an 18-year-old Nepali last year, who was dragged under the water by a creature described as a "elongated pig". Two earlier mysterious river deaths are also considered to be the work of the catfish.

All in all, I think it is unfortunate that such a magnificent specimen had to be put to the sword on mere suspicion. The crocodile, which is a confirmed man-eater, is protected in India, Australia and I believe South Africa. Likewise, giant Goonch catfish ought to be protected.