A 12-year old boy was on Monday morning mauled to death by a hyena in Leleshwa village Ol Moran area, Laikipia County.
The animal ate the body, leaving only a skeleton during the 5am incident.
The boy’s father, who suffered serious injuries while trying to fight off the animal to save their son, is admitted at the Nyahururu County Referral Hospital.
According to Ms Anne Wambui, the Class Two pupil at Mwireri Primary School was preparing for school when the animal attacked.
“The boy’s mother was preparing breakfast in the kitchen as the victim and his brother dressed for school when the animal attacked,” said Ms Wambui.
“On hearing the commotion, the boy’s father rushed to rescue his family from the beast,” said Ms Wambui, the boy’s aunt.
Villagers now fear that more hyenas might attack them.
ANIMAL KILLED
“People would hit the animal which would charge at them and return to eat the boy’s body,” said Mr Edward Chege, a taxi driver.
He said that the villagers however, managed to kill the animal.
Speaking at the Nyahururu County Hospital after visiting the injured, Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) senior warden in charge of Laikipia West, Mohammed Madela blamed recent fire at the Laikipia Nature Conservancy for driving wild animals into human settlement areas.
“The animals that ran away from fire are now living in Lariak Forest which is just a kilometre from the home of the victims.
“For the last one week, we have been receiving reports that animals from the Laikipia Nature Conservancy roam in the villages.
SLEEPING ON THE JOB
“We suspect that the animal was among those that had escaped from the conservancy,” he said.
Mr Madela said that they had deployed enough officers to trap the animals and take them back to the parks.
However, nominated MCA Ms Irene Wacuka, who visited the family at the hospital, accused KWS officials of sleeping on the job. She said that they had failed to deal with the increased cases of human – wildlife conflicts in the area.
She urged both levels of governments to ensure that the family is compensated.
The boy’s body was taken to Nyahururu County Referral Hospital mortuary.
