River Monsters (2009–2017): Season 3, Episode 1 - The Mutilator - full transcript

Wade: Papua New Guinea, a land
renowned for cannibalism,

macabre rituals, headhunters,

and bitter tribal conflict.

But now something new

is ripping through the heart
of this island...

Aah!

A creature
that is tearing chunks

from unsuspecting fishermen,
devouring certain body parts.

My name is Jeremy Wade,

biologist and extreme fisherman.

I've spent my life searching
for freshwater monsters.



Wade: Those teeth!

I'm heading to Papua New Guinea

to find out
what has acquired the taste

for one particular part
of the human body.

Wade: Details about the
attacks are unclear.

All I have to go on
are a few sketchy reports

from newspapers and internet.

The incidents first surfaced
in the Australian press,

which reported two separate,
but very similar, fatal attacks

in the Sepik River

in the remote northern region
of Papua New Guinea.

Patrick Mo had just returned
from a long day on the water.

He was bathing
in the river margins

right in front of his house
when it struck.



He was hit by a powerful
lone hunter...

A fast swimmer
with jaws like a vice

that ripped and tore his flesh.

Mo had certain body parts
bitten off,

as a result of which
he bled to death.

Wade: A second attack
was eerily similar.

Frances Samben went to the river

to wash dishes and cool off,

something he had done
countless times before,

but this time,
it was to be very different.

This time,
he's not be going home.

Aaah!

I've tracked freshwater killers
all over the world,

but this is my first visit
to Papua New Guinea,

which lies north of Australia,

where the Coral Sea
meets the South Pacific.

It is one of the most dramatic
and untouched islands

anywhere on Earth.

Despite more than 50,000 years
of human habitation,

this landscape has changed
little since prehistoric times.

Much remains unexplored.

New species
are regularly discovered.

So is the river killer
a new arrival,

or has it been hiding away
for centuries?

It is only now
that I begin to realize

the sheer size of this island

and the remoteness of the area
where I'm heading.

There's just an awful lot
of forest out there.

I'm used to flying
over forest in the Amazon,

but this is very different.

While the Amazon tends to be
very flat, most of it,

here we're talking
serious mountains

and just completely cloaked
in greenery.

The other thing is, in the
Amazon, if you look carefully,

you did see buildings
down there.

You can see tin roofs

occasionally glinting
back at you,

and clearings in the trees,

but here,
just none of that at all.

It appears to be completely
uninhabited down there.

Wade:
These steep-sided mountains
and impenetrable forests

led to isolation and diversity
among its plants and animals,

and suspicion and bitter tribal
conflict between its people.

Tribal fighting still exists

in the less-accessible
mountain regions.

But right now, it is the water
level that concerns me.

We're now approaching the
floodplain of the Sepik River.

And there's a lot
of water there.

This is supposed to be now
into the dry season,

but I'm still seeing
lots of water

not just confined
in the banks of the river,

but spreading
throughout the landscape.

And the fish and everything else
in the water

are gonna be very spread out,

and it's gonna make
my job pretty difficult.

Wade: Rising
in the central mountains,

the Sepik River snakes
for over 700 miles

through impenetrable forest.

This is one of the last
great unexplored rivers.

It is to Papua New Guinea
what the Congo is to Africa

and the Amazon is
to South America.

After four flights,
48 hours, and 9,000 miles,

I arrive in Ambunti

in the remote northwest corner
of the country.

I've never been here before,

so I'm not too sure
what I'm getting into.

There's no roads here.

So I think the stuff's coming
out of the plane now

and then it's on to the water.

My base for the next two weeks

is a village deep
in the heart of the forest.

These tribes are cut off
from the outside world.

The only way in or out
is along this river.

Little has changed here
for centuries.

Their culture is rich
in superstition,

myths, and mystery.

And they are notoriously wary
of outsiders.

I'm met by one of the elders.

I sent word of my intended
visit many months ago.

Turning up unannounced
is not taken kindly.

I do my best to smile
and look friendly...

But I'm not getting
much reaction.

So, this is Spirit House?

Yes. Spirit House.

Wade: This was once the site
of human sacrifice

and even cannibalism.

Now it is the place of worship
and ceremony,

and where outsiders are called
when they visit.

But I'm not too sure
how welcome I am.

I've, um...

Been hearing stories
about something in the water

attacking people.

Is this something
that you know anything about?

Yes.

So, what is happening?

There are over 700 languages
in Papua New Guinea,

but the trade language
common to all is pidgin.

They also understand
a little English.

The thing about pidgin

is that there are English words
that are recognizable,

and in the middle of that
was a phrase...

Ball cutter.

There's something in the water
called a ball cutter,

and this does agree very much

with the stories
that I've heard.

People have been
coming out of the water

with injured genitals.

It's interesting.

The first place
that I've asked...

"Yes, yes, we know about this.

There is very something
dangerous in the water."

So, these injuries,
people being attacked,

is this something
that has happened here?

So it sounds like this is
something they heard about here,

but nobody here
has actually been attacked,

or at least not yet anyway.

And they're saying the stories,

coupled with the name
of this animal, the ball cutter,

you know, it is something
that they are afraid of,

they're very worried about.

Particularly mothers
are very concerned

that their children are
very careful in the water.

Wade: For villagers living here,

avoiding the river
is virtually impossible.

Their lives revolve around it.

Now, somewhere down there,

is a creature with teeth sharp
enough to emasculate a man,

causing him to bleed to death
in minutes.

I've investigated
similar incidents before.

Fish on!

Look at that!

Wade: In central Africa,
I caught a goliath tigerfish,

a species that has attacked
and killed people

in the Congo River.

What we've got to worry
about now,

is he biting his way out?

But that is 9,000 mile away,

and goliaths are not found
around here.

The village elders told me

that none of the native
fish species

would be capable of inflicting
such horrific injuries.

But something out there
is responsible

for these fierce attacks.

And I have no idea
what it could be.

I've not been here before,

so I don't know what fish
I'm likely to catch.

But what I'll probably do,
I'll probably start off light...

Light line, a little hook,
and a small bit of bait,

and try and catch
some small fish.

That will start to give me
a picture of what's down there.

And then what I'll do,

I will try and move on to fish
further up the food chain,

that are feeding
on those little fish,

and catch the predators.

I've got a selection
of artificial lures

which resemble small fish,

but I might also just put
a bit of dead fish on my line.

I've got some bigger hooks
for that,

and because predators are
very likely to have teeth,

I've got some wire along,
as well.

So basically,
I've just got a bag of bits,

and I'll sort of make it up
as I go along.

But starting with the small ones

and gradually working my way
up the food chain.

I've not been able to find out

exactly where the attacks
took place,

but I do know that they
occurred close to a village,

so that is where I begin.

A bit of coconut as bait.

The villagers have told me
that the fish around here

find coconut irresistible.

I'm fishing
right in front of the houses.

Two reasons, really...

Fish often come very close
to where people are,

because that's where people
wash their dishes,

all that kind of thing.

Also, shallow water.

Fish, contrary
to popular belief,

tend to be found very often

in the shallows,
rather than in the deep.

There's more light there,
therefore more vegetation,

therefore there's more food.

And in no time at all,
I get a bite.

Oh!

That's taking line
off the clutch.

Strong, strong fish.

Oh! Oh!

Aaah.

Let's have a look.
Something's actually...

That didn't break the line.

I wasn't putting
that much pressure on that.

Now that has actually cut it.

Something down there
has cut the line.

Um... that's interesting.

I was fishing
very, very close to the side,

and there's something down there
with teeth.

What's interesting, though...

It actually took
a bit of coconut.

So you've got a vegetarian
with teeth.

Word has reached me of an
incident in a nearby village.

Ramson Tero was attacked
while paddling his canoe,

but his attacker wasn't a fish.

It was a 20-foot crocodile.

What happened was that Ramson
was collecting palm fronds

for roofing his house.

And the first thing he knows

is that a crocodile has
actually come from underneath.

He didn't see the body
of the croc at all.

But it came along and just
crunched one end of the boat.

The size of the crocodile's jaws

were more or less
the length of his arm,

and he said he could have put
his arm right down its throat.

That was the size of it.

At that point, he's thinking,

"Well, how do I
get out of this?"

Ramson sat it out in the tree...

Until the crock
eventually lost interest...

And he was able to get away
on his broken canoe.

He was lucky.

Over the years, dozens of people

have been killed by crocodiles
in the Sepik River.

This skin came
from a 20-foot monster,

said to have learned
to flip over canoes.

Sepik River crocodiles

certainly have a history
of killing,

but are they the ball cutter
I'm looking for?

The elders told me they doubt
the native fish species here

are capable of inflicting
these injuries,

but something
did bite through my line,

so I have to keep an open mind.

I head out
with Alphonse Mavasanye,

a fisherman
and crocodile specialist,

to see if somehow a crocodile
could be responsible

for these unusual mutilations.

He has brought me to the same
area where Ramson was attacked.

Alphonse is actually going to
try and call

this crocodile to us.

The splashing mimics the sound
of a large crocodile

moving quickly
through the water.

The call, that of a young one.

Both sounds should attract
crocodiles to us.

Ramson described the croc
that attacked him

as being over 20 feet long.

Wade: But they kill
by ripping and spinning,

tearing at flesh and devouring
huge chunks at a time.

So it is unlikely
that a large croc

would only attack the genitals.

But could it be a smaller one?

Or is something else
lurking down there?

Yeah.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

See the eyes just on the edge
of this bit of vegetation here,

about 20, 30 yards
in front of the boat now.

Dense floating islands
of vegetation...

Perfect crocodile habitat.

It's right in the vegetation.

They can stay submerged
for over an hour.

You don't know they're there
until they attack.

Each time we spot one,
it spooks and disappears.

They seem very wary.

But eventually,
Alphonse grabs a baby one.

So this one's a salty?

One year?

So this could belong
to the big one?

Yeah.

This could be
one of the children?

One of the children
for the big one.

So, the squeaking noise...
What is the squeaking noise?

- Is it really?
- Yes.

So you think
it may be a good idea

to put it back now?
- Yeah, yeah.
We can put it back.

I can't be certain

that crocs are not responsible
for the attacks,

but Alphonse tells me

that they're rarely seen
near villages now.

And both the genital attacks

occurred close
to the victims' houses.

I think something else
in this water

has a taste for human flesh.

We saw one crocodile tonight,

I suppose an animal
about 8 or 10 foot,

something like that,

judging by the amount of light
coming back from the eyes.

But other than that,
it's just been small ones,

and I suppose, in one sense,

a bit of a relief not to come
across the big one,

but in another sense,
I'm quite disappointed

and also surprised

that we haven't seen
more crocodiles tonight.

Alphonse tells me
that in recent years,

crocodile numbers are down,

and it is only
in the past few years

that the attacks on people
have occurred.

Could it be that whatever
is attacking the fisherman

is also attacking
the crocodiles?

The next morning,

I set off again
on the edge of the village.

I'm on the Sepik River,

in a remote part
of Papua New Guinea,

9,000 miles from home,

on the trail of a creature

that is attacking
unsuspecting fisherman.

Blimey!

Strong, strong fish.

I can hardly believe my eyes

when I see what is on the end
of my line.

Looks like a piranha.

It has got teeth,
but they're not piranha teeth.

Unless I'm very much mistaken,
that looks like a fish

that I know from the Amazon
called a pacu.

The thing that gives it away
is looking at the teeth.

They're not cutting teeth.
They are grinding teeth.

I actually had my line cut
a few days ago

by a mystery fish
here in the lakeside.

I'm actually seeing this now.

I think
this is what it could be.

Although they're grinding teeth,

they have got
quite sharp ridges on it.

And I think this is what
it could have been.

Wade: Unlike a piranha,

these teeth are not designed
for slicing through flesh.

They are primarily vegetarian.

They feed on things like nuts
that fall in the water.

So, very interesting catch,
but I don't think

this is actually the fish
that I'm after.

Phew.
What's it doing here?

The pacu is typically found
on the other side of the world

in South America,

and doesn't belong in the Sepik.

Puzzled, I meet up
with Alphonse again.

I just wondered
if you can tell me

what this fish is doing here.

You said "produced."
It was put here?

So it's a new fish to give
people something else to eat?

Yeah, yeah.

Wade: I've investigated
introduced species before

and know the devastating impact
they can have on a river.

Absolutely stiff with fish.

In the U.S., silver carp
escaped from a fish farm.

Their numbers exploded,
and they now dominate

entire stretches
of the Illinois River.

I feel the boat being buffeted
as they're banging into it.

The wels catfish was moved

from the cold rivers
of northern Europe

to the warm, rich waters
of Spain,

where they grew into monsters.

With no natural predators
and ample food,

both species have run amok,
upsetting the natural balance.

So could something like this

now be happening
in the Sepik River?

Word of my quest is spreading
through the nearby villages.

I've been told of a fisherman
named Nick Sarkat,

who was savaged by something
in the river

which wasn't a crocodile.

Wade: And then what you saw,
the size of the bite,

that was also similar to
human teeth, wasn't it?
- Yes.

- So it looks like a person
has bitten your foot?
- Yes.

What are you thinking
is down in the water?

Whatever is down there
is not only fast and ferocious,

it's also powerful.

Wade:
The village elders told me

that there were only a handful
of fish species out there,

none of them capable
of carrying out such an attack.

I head out further
from the village,

along smaller tributaries.

There has been so little
exploration out here

that new species
are regularly discovered.

Could it be that something
unknown to science

is responsible
for these attacks?

There's something
in the water here

that's actually
attacking people.

What I'm doing now,
I'm fishing to see

if there's anything
predatory down there.

I'm putting a lure on,
and what that will do,

that will flash and wobble,
vibrate,

and that's the kind of movement
that could get a reflex grab,

so something with teeth
is likely to go after this.

I change locations
and try different lures,

but the result
is always the same.

I'm just not getting
any interest at all.

If this was an Amazon lake,

a lake where you didn't have
lots of commercial fishing,

then I'd expect maybe four
or five different species,

certainly some hits,
but just nothing at all.

So it just points to the fact
that there's not a great deal

in the way of predatory fish
in these waters.

Having drawn a blank
in the flooded forest,

as evening closes in,
I head back towards the village.

Each of the attacks occurred
close to where people live.

And the creature has clearly
acquired the taste for flesh.

So what I need is a bait
that tastes just like human,

and considering
their cannibalistic past,

there are many people here
who know just the thing.

Wade: In the days
when the tribespeople here

were cannibalistic,

they called human flesh
"long pig"

because the meat tasted
so much like pork.

So that is what I will use.

It's obviously something that a
predator would be interested in,

but also with moving water here,

what that will do,

that will send a nice oily trail
downcurrent.

So not just anything here, but
if there's anything downstream,

they might sniff that
and move up and investigate.

There he is!

This looks like a pacu.

This is interesting, because
this was on a piece of meat.

So this supposedly
vegetarian fish

has just broken that habit.

This pacu, the piranha's
vegetarian relative,

seems to like
the taste of flesh.

There we go.

So much for the vegetarian pacu.

If the pacu are eating pork,

then they could just
as easily go for human flesh.

Aaah!

So are they now taking on
the behavior

of their deadly relative,
the piranha?

I'm thinking that maybe I might
have dismissed the pacu

as the possible perpetrator
of these attacks too soon.

In its normal habitat,
the Amazon,

it is a vegetarian,

but it certainly
has the weaponry

to inflict serious damage
on flesh.

All it would need
would be a motive.

Now, if it turns out

that there is not enough
of its normal kind of food here,

then it's gonna do

what any animal would do
in that situation,

which is to eat anything it
can find in order to survive.

Where piranhas are concerned,
small means deadly.

But pacu can grow much bigger.

Here in Papua New Guinea,

there's virtually
no commercial fishing,

and there's very little
under the water

in the way of predators,

so it's quite possible
that after only 15 years,

you'd find a bigger pacu
living here

than anything you'd find
in the Amazon.

Wade:
So is this yet another example
of an introduction gone wrong,

especially as the attacks
only started

after the pacu's arrival
in the Sepik River?

In their native South America,

there are 12 or more
fish species

that share the common name pacu.

The one that has been introduced

into Papua New Guinea

is among the largest.

When young, this pacu
mimics the red-bellied piranha.

But as they grow,
they lose their red coloration

and transform
into formidable beasts.

Pacu are armed with jaws

powerful enough to crush the
hard nuts that fall from trees.

These jaws are more than capable

of ripping
through soft human tissue.

If it were to resort
to piranha-type behavior,

this river system
would be forever transformed.

A vegetarian turned carnivore
may be scientifically shocking,

but out here, transformation
is a way of life.

Tribespeople turn themselves
into mythical beasts

and carry out hypnotic dances
to ward off evil

or appease the river spirits
when they are in trouble.

Boys all along the Sepik River
are transformed into men

through bloodletting,

by having the skin
on their chests and backs cut,

leaving scars said to be
the teeth marks of crocodiles.

And now, if my hunch is correct,

the pacu is also undergoing
a transformation

from harmless vegetarian
to flesh-eating river monster.

Now my focus is catching a pacu
capable of killing a man.

At the village,
I meet up with Alphonse.

He tells me
that since their introduction,

the pacu have been
devastating the river system.

Wade: So you're saying
that before the pacu was here,

this whole area,
even in the high water like now,

was covered with floating weed,
floating grass.

- Yeah.
- And that's now gone?

Do the crocodiles have
a problem with the pacu?

These floating islands
are the remnants

of what once covered
the entire lake.

The pacu are quite literally

eating the native species
of the Sepik River

out of house and home.

But it is not only the grass
that they are eating.

- Really?
- Yeah.

- You've seen that?
- Yeah.

All the fish from this lake...

The tale of destruction
gets worse and worse.

I know the pacu
eat the small fish.

The pacu are eating fish.

They are attacking snakes as
they swim across the surface.

Snakes is what the bird...

Even water birds aren't safe.

Small ducks have been eaten
as they paddle around.

- Duck?
- Duck.

The question is,
does "everything" include

a particular part
of the male anatomy?

Aaah!

To find out exactly what
big pacu are capable of,

I need to catch one.

So now I'm changing tack

and heading deeper
into the flooded forest.

Sepik River people
are extremely superstitious

and believe that hostile spirits

reside in the middle
of these forests.

For them,
this is a menacing place.

What we're doing is we're
paddling very, very quietly

through this area
of flooded trees here.

And there's some signs of fish.

I've actually seen some fish
chewing the ends of the weeds

and some fish actually swirling
underneath these nut trees.

So it's just moving slowly

and just casting close
under the trees.

There are signs of pacu
everywhere.

The sound of fruit
hitting the water alerts them

and they race in to eat it.

Wade: Another catch,
but the red coloration tells me

that again, it's a juvenile.

Maybe I have to go further in.

Although I find myself drawn in
to local superstition,

I'm more concerned
about what is lurking

among the root tangles.

The heat in here
is overwhelming,

and the trees
cut out any breeze,

so the humidity is oppressive.

This is very different
from fishing.

By the village,
there, it doesn't matter...

You make a noise,
they're used to the noise.

Here, the only noise
they are listening for

is the sound of falling nuts.

Anything else other than that
is going to scare them away.

Personally, I really enjoy this
sort of close-quarters fishing,

where you're relying on stealth
to get close to the fish.

You're not sort of
making a lot of noise

and just casting a long way.

And the only way you can get
your bait into these areas

is by getting in close.

Another catch,

but this time the pull on the
line suggests a larger pacu.

Not wanting to put my hands
anywhere near those jaws,

I use a long-handled grip
to lift it out.

They're getting bigger,
getting bigger.

The fish's muscular body

makes it capable
of bursts of speed.

It can attack and make a quick
get away without being seen.

That's not the size
that I want to catch.

I want to catch two, maybe three
times the length of that.

But that's good to see anyway.

As evening rolls in,
I head back to the village.

Word has spread
of my investigation,

and a fisherman
has come to see me.

His name, Frances Samben,
is familiar.

As he talks, I realize
that this is the man

the newspapers claim
was killed by the ball cutter.

Aaah!

The stories that I heard,
he didn't survive the encounter,

but I'm very pleased to say
that in reality,

although this was
a pretty terrifying experience

by all accounts, he did actually
live to tell the tale.

Wade:
Although the rumors of Samben's
death were exaggerated,

the attack did leave him
hospitalized and in agony.

The fish was large
and incredibly powerful.

The bite was not a clean cut
like a piranha's,

but tore and ripped his flesh...

Aaah!

And he struggled
to fight it off.

This echoes the story
told to me by Nick Sarkat.

This giant relative of
the piranha is, as I thought,

growing to quite a size
and with teeth to match.

I begin fishing again,

now fully aware of the strength
of this creature.

But the difficulty will not
be bringing it in

or even landing it.

What worries me most
is getting close to those jaws.

Yeah, yeah, big one,
big one, big one.

There it is.
Look at that!

It's really big.
It's really big.

This could be the one
I've been looking for.

I know there's snags
on the bottom.

I'm trying to keep it
away from that.

Yeah. Just see it.

This black water.

You can just see it down there.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Oh, yes!

Just keep it away
from stuff on the bottom.

But there's also people's houses
in the water.

Keep it away from that.

For the moment,
it's in open water. That's good.

I'll get it well and truly
tired out

before I try and do anything
with this one.

Then I need to examine it

without losing a chunk
of my hand.

I don't want to rush it.

Oh!

That actually...

Just take a look at that...
As I lifted it out,

that straightened the hook
as I lifted it out.

Ooh!

This is interesting

because I've just been seeing
small ones of these.

That is...
That's a different animal

from what I have been catching.

This is more of a size.

Whew.

So the coloration on this
is actually quite different

from the small ones.

The small ones have
a very dramatic red belly

which, on this,
have sort of faded away

to this rather light orange.

But the biggest
difference... is...

Aah!

Gosh. Very muscular fish.

He just gave
a bit of a kick there.

This is all muscle here.

So it's a very strong fish,
very powerful.

But I'm just... ooh!

I'm just trying to look
at the business end here.

Just look at that.

On the small one, they were
quite delicate teeth.

On here, I mean,
those are real crushers.

What this fish normally feeds on
in the Amazon is seeds and nuts.

They often have tough cases
to be opened.

So these teeth, basically,
they're nutcrackers.

This thing really does look
like a giant piranha.

But the teeth on this,
not designed for cutting,

but for crushing and tearing.

Seeing those teeth reminds me
of all of the stories

I've been told
about the attacks on people.

Aah!

Those teeth really do look
uncannily like human teeth

and to be bitten by those,

I think that would be
a very creepy experience.

It would be just like
being bitten by a person.

They say when a piranha bites
you, when it actually bites,

you don't know it's happening
because it's such a clean cut,

but this would be a very jagged,
messy tear,

and I think you'd certainly
know about this

when this bit you.

And if these fish hear something
splashing in the water,

they don't go heading
in the opposite direction

like other fish.

They come heading for that sound
with those teeth bared.

I'm left in no doubt that
the pacu is the ball cutter...

A vegetarian turned man-eater,

an outsize piranha
with a taste for human flesh,

an alien invader running amok,

dominating entire stretches
of the Sepik River.

The river people now accept
that the ball cutter

is something
they have to live with.

It's just a graphic example
of the unintended side effects

that you can get when you start
meddling with nature.

This nightmare
may seem easy to dismiss

as someone else's problem,
far from our own backyard,

but perhaps not.

Pacu have now turned up

in 19 different states
in the U.S.

So far,
numbers have not exploded,

nor has anyone been attacked.

But just as in the Sepik,
things can change very quickly.

And once the genie
is out of the bottle,

you can never put it back.