Concerned residents from Juja, Kiambu county have rejected plans to establish a Kenya Wildlife Service
(KWS) camp in the constituency to deal with perennial hyena attacks that have left a trail of deaths and injuries among locals.

Kalimoni MCA Godfrey Mucheke who is also the majority leader at the Kiambu County Assembly revealed to journalists that KWS had expressed interest to build a permanent camp in the area to help terrified locals combat the marauding hounds.

Mucheke however dismissed the request saying it was tantamount to mapping the constituency as game
park as KWS camps are only found in animal sanctuaries.

“We had a security meeting in the morning and KWS requested us to help them build a permanent camp
to deal with hyena attacks. This to me is impractical and undesirable as hyenas are not supposed to be here. We told them to capture and translocate their animals back to the forest in two weeks,” said Mucheke.

Juja MP George Koimburi has also since opposed the proposal saying that the government should pronounce itself on the matter clearly to bring to an end the endless humananimal conflicts in the area.

“It is time the government declares who should live here. Is Juja a game park or a residential area for the people. We should be told whether it is us who should live here or the hyenas. We have given the government seven days to deal with the hyena menace failure to which we start killing them before
they kill more people,” said Koimburi.

The leaders’ sentiments were echoed by locals led by Martin Ngugi and Jane Gichuki who decried the
chilling encounters with the killer animals.

While pointing fingers to KWS for doing less to contain the appetite of the hungry animals, the locals called for immediate action and protection for their families and livestock.

They observed that failure by investors to refill mined quarries and clear bushes in the expansive tracts
of land in the area has attracted the wild animals to the village saying that the quarries have been providing safe breeding and hiding abodes to the hyenas. Hyenas are mostly nocturnal but can attack in the morning.

Among the affected areas in the constituency are Nyacaba, Maraba, Witeithie, Juja South Estate, Kalimoni
and Kabati villages. So far 12 hyenas have been translocated from the constituency in an effort to mitigate the human-animal conflict in the area.