SHELLENG, Nigeria — A hippopotamus that killed two fishermen in Nigeria’s northeast has been shot dead, authorities said Tuesday, highlighting how ill-equipped Nigerian wildlife control officials are to protect both wildlife and the communities that surround them.

Local hunters killed the hippopotamus in the town of Shelleng on the bank of the Benue river last Sunday, said Babangida Jimeta, head of the hunters association of Adamawa State.

He said hunters were on the lookout for two other hippopotamuses that had turned violent in a sanctuary of about 200 hippopotamuses on Kiri dam.

State wildlife control officials, who gave permission for the hunters to hunt down the hippopotamus, said killing the animal was a last resort.