Hyena devours 65-year-old man


From The Arusha Times
October 23, 2010
By Joseph Lyimo

Khufo Maida (65) a resident of Hanang’ has been devoured by a ferocious hyena in a reserve forest on mount Hanang’ in the afternoon of October 2.

According to the Hanang’ Acting Regional Police Commander, Eurelia Msindai, Maida had gone to the forest to look for firewood and logs and as he was busy in the activity, a hyena attacked and tore him to an instant death.

Back in the village the family noticed the old man was missing and raised alarm. Neighbours armed with traditional weapons led by the ten cell leader Daniel Tluway went into the forest to trace the old man. They found the hyena asleep near the remains of the deceased and managed to kill it.

The police chief said the remains of Maida were taken to Hanang district hospital morgue.

Contacted for comment, the Hanang District Natural Resources Officer John Driza, said Maida had trespassed into the forest reserve as no one was allowed to go there under the law. He also cautioned other people against risking their lives by going into the forest as it has vicious wild animals.

Tough

Sometimes we're at the top of the food chain, sometimes we're not.

For heavens sake dont let the treehuggers here in the states know the poor confused hyena was killed.

SSR

quote:

a hyena attacked and tore him to an instant death.

One hopes it really was that fast, but sadly I doubt it.

Sounds like the trespasser became a meal.

Without any pictures of this mauling I question the validity and accuracy of this report. It's written exactly as if it should be on the front cover of the Enquirer, or one of the the other supermarket tabloids. The gruesome wording used by the writer Joseph Lyimo, is not the way journalists are taught to write; another reason why I look at this with a tilted head and squinted eyes.

That's not to say I'm not aware of the viciousness of a hyena. I have taken several of them and the satisfaction level ranks pretty high on the MojaMeter...almost a 10! The one I missed caused me angst for about a day. It was a chippy, "low hanging piece of fruit" and I muffed the shot...in broad daylight as he looked straight at me.

But as I was saying, I just find it hard to believe a single hyena attacked a man in the woods. Every time I've seen them or tried to stalk them, which is nearly impossible, they eventually ran away from me.

If the report had stated a "disabled man", then I might be inclined to believe it. I know that the hyena then might have detected the opportunity to strike, because their keen and aware enough to detect wounded prey.

Kathi: You should start a website in which you aggregate these reports, putting them all on one website. You could make some bold headlines with this stuff, almost National Enquirer like. "Raging Hyena Gobbles Up Old African Townsman!", with an avatar of a snarling hyena and blood dripping from his mouth next to the headline.

Wild Africa...

Mike