NAIROBI, Kenya, Jan 11 – A hyena on Thursday mauled a three-month-old girl who was sleeping outside their house in Raya village in Sankuri location of Garissa County.
Zamzam Mahat was sleeping next to her mother outside their grass thatched house when the hyena sneaked into their homestead and snatched her.
The mother who did not immediately notice, woke up after she heard the cries of her young baby.
“By the time she woke up, the hyena was a few meters away running with the child in its jaws. She chased after the animal and was later joined by other family members,” said Abdullahi Sheikh, the father of the deceased.
The wild animal released the baby almost a kilometer from the homestead and run into a nearby bush.
It was too late to save her as she suffered severe wounds on her head.
Sheikh has urged the government to contain the wild animals in the area, saying they continue to cause havoc without any action by the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS).
“We are living in constant fear of attack from the wildlife animals. Most worrying is the fact the hyenas are now interested in attacking human beings and donkeys. If something is not done urgently, then many more people will lose their lives,” he lamented.
The incident comes barely two weeks after a two-year-old boy was killed by a hyena in Dertu village, Lagdera constituency, Garissa County.
Cases of human-wildlife conflict in the area have been on the rise because of the prolonged drought and famine.
In the last few years, the county has experienced poor rains that have seen the wildlife leave their inhabitants to look for water and food in the homesteads.