Juja, Rongai man-eating hyenas have rabies – KWS
By Mathew.Ndungu, February 16, 2024
It has now emerged that hyenas which attacked people in Kiambu and Kajiado counties were infected with rabies, a deadly virus spread to people from the saliva of infected animals.
Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) yesterday confirmed the killer animals that continue to wreak havoc in Juja and Rongai areas had the fatal disease.
KWS made the confirmation through a letter to newsrooms yesterday after a series of samples collected from various scenes where the hyenas have been attacking people.
According to KWS, the samples collected in Juja and around Maasai Lodge where a university student was recently attacked were tested at the National Veterinary Reference Laboratories (NVRL) and tested positive for rabies.
Test results
A hyena that had strayed into a compound at Kalimoni area of Juja on February 11, 2024, was also captured and the test results came back positive.
“A report of a hyena having attacked a student of Multimedia University at Maasai Lodge area of Rongai on February 5, 2024 was responded to and samples collected from the hyena were taken to the National Veterinary Reference Laboratories (NVRL), Kabete for rabies test. The test results from this case were confirmed to be positive for rabies on February 8, 2024.
In another case, a report was received of a hyena having bitten two people on Saturday February 10, 2024 at Eselenkei in Kajiado county.