An elderly man has been killed by a pack of hyenas in Zimbabwe, after they pulled him from his bed while he was sleeping.

The man, who has been identified by the authorities as 87-year-old Tendai Maseka, was dragged about 1,000 feet from his mud and wood hut.

The incident occurred on Monday night in the rural region of Chirumanzu. in central Zimbabwe.

By the time Maseka's body was discovered by villagers, its lower half was missing.

Park rangers are currently hunting for the animals in a bid to "eliminate" them, according to Tinashe Farawo, spokesman for the Zimbabwe Parks & Wildlife Management Authority.

Confirming the attack on Twitter, he wrote: "An elderly man who was killed by a pack of hyenas in Chirumanzu (87yrs) was staying alone. He was sleeping in a hut when the unfortunate incident happened. He was dragged for about 300m, with lower body missing. Drag marks and hyena tracks were visible."

The same pack of hyenas is believed to have been responsible for a recent series of attacks on cattle and goats in the area.

Maseka was buried on Thursday. Locals have been urged to be vigilant, avoid moving around at night and keep all doors and windows closed until the animals are captured, Farawo said.

Farawo told CNN: "We are on the ground trying to track down the problem animals with a view to eliminating them. If we had enough resources we would have trans-located them from overpopulated areas to where there is less population."

Animal attacks are not uncommon during the summer, according to Farawo.

He told CNN: "These things normally happen at this time of year because it's the drier months where normally food and water is scarce so the animals move long distances -- and into communities -- in search of food.

"This is the 60th human life lost this year alone to human wildlife conflict," said Farawo, who believes more than six hyenas were responsible for Maseka's death.
According to Farawo, half of the incidents involved elephants, while at least three involved lions.

Hyenas are also known to attack, he said, recalling an incident last year in which two young siblings were killed while out picking fruit.

The problem, he added, is largely caused by overpopulation of animals. This has been compounded by the destruction of their habitats by climate change, while the Covid-19 pandemic has made matters worse, he said.

In normal years, the wildlife authorities rely mainly on tourism for revenue, Farawo explained. "But tourism in 2020 is just as good as dead, which has left us without resources to fund our conservation efforts," he said.

I’ve only seen two Spotted Hyenas in five trips to Namibia. In 2012, my PH Jan du Plessis live trapped a big male that had been killing livestock. It was one pissed off critter, hissing and growling . It also stunk to high heaven. In 2015, we were intentionally hunting Hyenas and Jan dropped me off at an elevated blind then drove the truck downwind about 500 yards, planning on walking back to join me in the blind. About 15 minutes later, a shot rang out from the direction of the truck. A Hyena had tracked Jan and was about to attack him when he shot it at SIX YARDS.

In 2017 while hunting at Mokore with Lou Hallamore, leaving camp one morning a large hyena ran across the road in front of us. Lou said “shoot him!”, so I did, really big animal. The trackers wouldn’t load it, so Lou and I did it. That evening, nearly every black staff member came and thanked me for “shooting the beast”. They apparently don’t like them.

I have never had a clean shot at a hyena, except once, when one was on a lion bait. I did not shoot it, as we did not want to scare away the lions.

Then, of course, when we have purposefully set out bait to hunt a hyena, they have stayed away.

Seems like this poor old fellow, just sleeping peacefully in his tent, had no chance against those devils.

Imagine living 87 years just to be killed and devoured by hyenas.

This was my second, I got the first in 2015 at Chirisa, again with Lou, off of an elephant carcass.

I've shot two spotted hyena, and in both instances the trackers and skinners were also glad, as they had their own superstitions and beliefs of evil and evil spirits, about them. It was interesting that in the case of one of the hyena, they buried its carcass, as they said that no other animal would touch or eat it. Not sure what happened with the carcass of the other.

. . . nganga.

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Originally posted by MJines:
. . . nganga.

...Lawyers.

I met a man on my first safari, he had part of his face eaten by a hyena.

I have no idea how many I have shot, sometimes close to a dozen on one safari in Zimbabwe.

They have stolen our BBQ stick once while we were having dinner.

Found it the next day about 500 meters away.

I have met them on the path walking back to my tent from the mess tent, several times.

Richard Bonham and his family brought one up in Kenya - I think it is a subject of a National Geographic episode.

They let it go out out.

It stays out for several days, but always came back.

One day I arrived at his house about 4 in the morning, to go grouse shooting.

Waiting for him on his veranda, this hyeana just walked in.

It was very large.

It looked at me from about 5 yards.

Stood there looking at me.

I put my hands out, and said "come. Come. Come"

It did not not.

Stood for a while looking at me, then turned around and left.

Told a friend about this when we got back to camp.

He is absolutely terrified of everything.

He said "Oh shit! I would have needed new underpants if that happened to me"

Bloody wimp!

Hell’s bells, Saeed!

Wimp?

I don’t and won’t ever trust any “tame” killer like that.

My rifle is loaded and with me everywhere in the wild.

Depending on the camp, even in the mess tent, and always next to my bed!

I find the story a little hard to swallow. I have no doubts whatsoever that hyenas had their fill of the victim, but to attack and drag someone out of a rondavel is typically the work of leopards and lions. And to attack without a commotion and without anyone else hearing a pack of hyenas at work is seriously in question.

We have quite a robust community of spotted hyena and a few browns in the Kunene. Most of the farmers simply run over them or shoot them along with jackals every chance they get so the hyenas have a healthy respect for humans. They will approach a camp, and they will pilfer if given the opportunity, but to attack and kill someone is remote at best.

The spotted's are fairly easy to domesticate, but you wouldn't want a brown anywhere around you. They stink worse than a honey badger and that's saying something.

There was a large population of spotted in the omay when I was there a few years ago, I got a nice big one. But everyday, everywhere hyena tracks.

At the place in SA we have seen exactly one spotted, but we have a lot of brown hyenas, too damn many.

quote:

At the place in SA we have seen exactly one spotted, but we have a lot of brown hyenas, too damn many.

Yes, I've seen many more browns than spotteds on all of my safaris, and that includes multiple countries.

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Originally posted by Use Enough Gun:

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At the place in SA we have seen exactly one spotted, but we have a lot of brown hyenas, too damn many.

Yes, I've seen many more browns than spotteds on all of my safaris, and that includes multiple countries.

All over the Northern part of South Africa and Namibia!

Just rarely seen in daylight hours and mostly solitary. Another screw up by usfws, banning import of the trophy!

quote:

All over the Northern part of South Africa and Namibia!

Just rarely seen in daylight hours and mostly solitary. Another screw up by usfws, banning import of the trophy!

Agreed. Zimbabwe also has a ton of them as well. To me, they look more evil than the spotteds.

What part of "staying alone" is difficult Opus!?! Reading comprehension is tough isn't it? Tough crowd here.

Don't believe everything you hear - especially when the story starts - This just in from Africa...

This reminds me of my first safari, hunting Deka with Roy Vincent in 1983. One day, the ranger from Sinamatella Camp on the north side of Wankie Park, Andy Cousins IIRC, came to visit us in our camp. He told us of finding a woman who worked for them at Sinamatella, laying out in the yard, drunk as could be, watching as a hyena was chewing off her leg. I don’t recall if he was able to shoot the hyena or not but he was sure her leg was going to be amputated as a result of the mauling.

Seem to remember a series of incidents in the Manan Pools communal camping areas some years back.

Andrew,
I once fly camped with bed rolles with Ian Gibson in Mana Pools. Once the lights went out we had Hyena and buffalo all around us all night. I was a poor nights sleep