Fear as hyenas attacks stalk Juja

Cases of hyenas mauling people are not new for residents in Juja constituency, Kiambu county, as scores of innocent locals have lost their lives in the jaws of the predators while other people have been left with life-threatening injuries.

Clans of hyenas have been roaming the villages including Nyacaba, Maraba, Athi, Juja Farm, Muthaara, Magomano, Kiahuria, Mukuyu among other villages wreaking havoc and terrorising residents with their vicious attacks.

While the government blames the increased attacks to an increase in hyena population, residents of Juja on the other hand blame the deadly spells on abandoned, unfenced and unfilled quarries in the area.

On Thursday, Tourism and Wildlife Cabinet Secretary Dr Alfred Mutua said that preliminary investigations into the attacks revealed that the hyena population had multiplied during the dry season.

Besides their attacks on people, Mutua furthered that lack of water and pasture had led to the death of some of the scavengers.

In Juja, residents at the same time point fingers to owners of huge chunks of undeveloped land with bushes and where they believe the animals have also been hiding.

“The killer animals have been hiding inside quarries and bushes of undeveloped land in the constituency. We have tasked KWS to take up the responsibility of repatriating them back to the forest but the attacks are still rife,” Juja MP George Koimburi told journalists recently.

Hunting hyenas

In a rare phenomenon, Juja residents have been hunting down the troublesome hyenas, which have become a thorn in the flesh in their villages.

Armed with machetes, clubs, tyres, petrol among other weapons, the residents have been descending on vast, undeveloped parcels of land believed to be the wild animals’ hideout with a motive of killing them following what they describe as government’s inaction to repulse them back to the forest.

Meandering through the bushy land eager to bring to an end the era of troubles brought about by the dreaded animals, the locals have unsuccessfully hunted them down save for one time when they had a glimpse of one of the hyenas which sprinted in the bush leaving the disturbed locals shipwrecked.

But as the government, according to the locals, continues to do less to contain the situation, the animals have continued to stage attacks in the vast villages killing and injuring residents whose families continue to cry for justice.

Dennis Tiya, 10, is the latest victim of the attacks by the marauding animals whose dismembered body was recovered in a thicket at Gwa Kigwi village on January 3.

Pupil killed

His father, Tiya Moinani, is yet to come to terms with how the hounds suddenly killed his first-born son who was a grade four pupil at Thiririka Primary School.

All that Moinani was left with for his bright boy is a photo that he took with his phone which he dreads looking at due to the pain and sorrow it brings him.

On the fateful day, Moinani was escorted by his son as he headed to work but he didn’t know that was the last time he’d see him alive.

“We loved the boy and he loved us too. He brought joy to the community around. My son lost his life to hyenas while in the company of five other boys who were planning a soccer match a day before the painful death occurred.

While his friends managed to escape the ordeal, the hyenas dragged my son to a thicket where they feasted on him. I’m broken down and cannot explain this anymore,” distraught Moinani said.

He told People Daily that he got to know about the horrific incident while at work.

“I could not believe my ears from the caller. I lost strength immediately but I later gained courage and agreed to visit the scene where my son had been devoured. His left side, from head to toe had been feasted by the animals,” he explained.

As a result of the shock, Moinani divulged that he has already relocated his wife and two kids to their rural village in Oloitoktok in Kajiado County for their safety. After the incident, the middle-aged man revealed that Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) gave him Sh30,000 consolation fee to facilitate burial plans.

In the neighboring Nyacaba village, the family of 10-year-old Emmanuel Kamande is still grieving the loss of their son to the predators.

The grade four pupil at Private Highway Academy in the village fell prey to the killers on November 18, 2023 as he was heading home from a nearby church in company of three other children.

When contacted for a comment about the incident, his broken-down father Peter Ngugi was lost of words.

According to Moses Nguyo, a close family member, the boy’s death left a huge emotional scar in the family and his parents have been enduring unbearable days and nights since the incident occurred.

“Kamande was in the company of his elder sister and two other children and had just left church for a spiritual session when the hyenas attacked them. They were heading home.

As others scampered for safety, Kamande fell and was dragged by the killer animals to the bushes. After we got the news, we immediately began a search for the boy but we only found his blood-stained tattered clothes and some badly mutilated body parts,” Nguyo narrated how the painful incident occurred.

At Maraba village, just a few kilometers from Nyacaba, another woman was attacked by the hyenas but is lucky to be alive even though she was left nursing serious eye injuries.

Beatrice Wairimu, 42, was coming from a shop near her home in the company of her son on January 13, 2024 at around 8 pm when one huge hyena attacked them.

“The hyena came from behind us as we were going home. We initially thought it was a dog but the sniffing was different. Immediately after alerting my son, the hyena began attacking us.

My son managed to escape but I fell on the ground giving the killer animal a field day. It bit my left eye severely, making me bleed profusely,” said Wairimu.

The troubled woman revealed that she was rescued by her neighbors who promptly responded to her distress calls before the wolfhound vanished into the darkness and left her bleeding profusely.

She would later be rushed to a local medical centre and later Thika Level Five Hospital where she was attended to.

“At the facility, medics shocked me by indicating that I would never be able to close the eye again but I thank God for my speedy healing. Although the attack left a huge dent in my life as I can no longer go to work due to constant headaches and dizziness, I am alive and that alone is enough for me to thank God,” said Wairimu.

The families of the victims called on the government through KWS and other authorities to intensify the crackdown on the hyenas.

Residents expressed concerns saying that they are living in fear noting that even businesses have suffered the brunt of the menace.

The situation, they said, has become so dire that schools which ideally should be opened for early preps and revision are being opened at 8 am in fear for the safety of the children and are nowadays closed at 4pm instead of the usual 5pm.

The affected family members called on the government to speed up the process of compensating them for the loss of life and damages caused by the wild animals so as to bring the matter to closure and enable the families to heal.

“I plead with the government through KWS to fast track the reparation for the loss even if it won’t bring back my son,” he said.

Nguyo also noted that Kamande’s family has completed all documentations required by KWS for release of the compensation and called on the authority to expedite the payment.

Fredrick Kisera, the warden in charge of Kiambu County in a meeting held at Nyacaba village divulged that families who lost their kin to the hyena attacks would be compensated to a tune of Sh 5 million.

He also noted that they have set up more traps in villages across Juja in a bid to capture the hyenas and translocate them to Ol Donyo Sabuk Park. A recent report indicates that KWS officers have since relocated 12 hyenas from the constituency in an ongoing operation dubbed Ondoa Fisi.

The statement by KWS stated that the translocation efforts were concentrated in various locations within the subcounty, including Munyaka in Theta Ward, Mwireri in Juja House, Athi, Kikumari Zone, Kimich and Mwalimu Farms.