Marauding hyenas killed a man and wounded two people near a university outside the Kenyan capital, officials said Tuesday.
Anthony Pasha was dismembered and killed by hyenas while he was collecting firewood at a forest close to his home, according to family members.
“The hyena attacked him and it chased him away from the forest. He left his firewood and then the hyenas dragged him down this stream and finished him off here,” said his cousin Kaaji Lesian.
Pasha’s brother ran to his rescue after hearing screams from 21-year-old student, Kevin Mwenda, not knowing that his brother was also being attacked.
With incidents involving hyenas increasingly frequent in the area which borders the Nairobi National Park, residents are angry.
“The government should help us. Everything has been killed in this homestead. Cows were killed, goats, and now its people. We haven’t found any part of the deceased,” said Pasha’s relative, Gladys Maingu.
“We have not been given any help. The other two injured victims have been admitted to the hospital. We have not been offered any help from the authorities. How long must we suffer?”
One of the wounded was a student at Kenya’s Multimedia University who was attacked by the hyenas late Monday on a road that borders the Nairobi National Park.
The incident has prompted hundreds of students to block streets in protests against what they say is a lack of security on campus.
“The university is not safe because we are near the national park,” said Ochieng Kefah, who was among the protesters.
“So what the government should be doing is they should be maybe putting some restrictions on the movement of the animals. The students walk here, so when an animal escapes one may be also be attacked,” he said.
Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) said Tuesday it had tracked down and killed a hyena following the attacks and its carcass is being tested for rabies and other diseases.
Faced with increasing attacks, KWS in January released guidelines on how to react when confronted by hyenas.
