Hyenas maul 'killer herder'
19/11/2007 10:23 - (SA)



Nairobi - Kenyan surgeons have amputated the arms and reconstructed the face of a herder, who killed a lion, only to be mauled later by a pack of hyenas, says an official.

Moses Lekalau, 35, on Friday speared a lion to death in Samburu, about 260km northeast of the capital, Nairobi, only to be savaged by hyenas that emerged from the bush.

Herman Wabomba, the spokesperson for the capital's Kenyatta National Hospital, said: "His arms were amputated and his head and face underwent reconstructive surgery on Sunday."

Lekalau speared the lion that had attacked him while walking home with his livestock, then bludgeoned it to death in the region, where wild animals roamed in open ranges.

Lekalau hails from a nomadic pastoralist community, where boys were ritually required to kill lions as a signature of maturing into manhood.