These images show how South African locals caught a hippopotamus before feasting on it after claiming it needed to be killed as it was causing trouble in the village.

The hippopotamus may be considered vulnerable on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, but this did not stop locals Mavambe village in Limpopo province from butchering it.

The gruesome images show the dead hippopotamus being carried with its feet attached to a long pole before it was cut up, with its meat later seen in a bucket in another picture.

The move comes just three months after another hippopotamus was killed in similar circumstances.

The second hippopotamus was caught on Wednesday, 7th June, according to local media.

Villagers hunted down the animal before calling rangers from the Limpopo Department of Economic Development, Environment, and Tourism to kill it.

The hippopotamus was reportedly shot inside Jim John Dam, with its corpse then reportedly spotted floating in the water, with locals only able to retrieve its body the following day.

Its meat was then turned into a stew, with a number of locals deciding to keep some of the meat and store it in their fridges.

Local resident Nhlamulo Mabasa told local media: “Peace has been restored in our community after the hippo, which had been terrorising us, was killed. We sharpened our knives to get our portion of its meat. It tasted as good as beef.”

The village chief, named as Xirele Manganyi, said that he had received a number of complaints from villagers about the hippopotamus.

He said: “The hippo’s destructive behaviour included damaging crops, causing fear among the residents and even affecting school attendance for local pupils.

“It’s a relief that the hippo was finally found and killed. It caused significant hardships among our people, and I had grown weary of the ongoing complaints.”