By Okong’o Oduya
Busia County, Kenya: Residents of Lwero village in Matayos Busia County few days ago hunted down and killed hippopotamus today morning citing it was causing danger to their lives.
After killing the Hippo, they took meat terming as a delicacy they have missed.
They say they took the law in their own hands claiming that their effort to reach the department of wildlife in the region bore no fruits
Joseph Egesa one of the residents said the animal was pausing danger to their lives as it had damaged their properties and crops. In an interview with the press, the residents noted that they woke up with a shock to see an animal that they only see on television.
“I woke up at 6 am only to find a big animal in my home that I have never seen in my life. I had to call for help from my neighbors and we started chasing it downstream and we managed to catch up with it,” he said.
Isaac Wabwire also a resident of the village recounted losses caused by the animal saying that the animal brought down their houses, pit latrines as well as damaging their crops.
He said they made several calls to the department of wildlife and the police officers but by the time they were talking to media the department in charge had not yet arrived.
Flora Kendi, Lwero village elder challenged the government for failing to put measures in place to protect both wildlife as well as human from frequent conflict adding that cases of wildlife-human conflict are on the rise in the County.
“This animal could not have been killed in this brutal manner if the government had proper measures in place to protect wildlife and human at the same time to coexist in harmony. This is not the first case where people are up in arms to attack wildlife. It is only that this is the first time we are experiencing this kind of animal. But small wildlife are killed daily, which should not be the case,” she said.
She urged the government to bring wildlife offices in the county where people can be reported cases such as this, saying the nearest wildlife office is in Kisumu and Kakamega and responding to such a call might take them more than one hour to get to Busia.
This case came in less than 24 hours after one person was attacked and injured by the hippo in Busibwabo area in the same county.
According to the eye witness the woman was attacked in the morning as she was crossing river Nibra in Nasira Busia County.
The area assistant chief Silas Aloi confirmed the attack saying the woman whose name was not immediately captured is recuperating after the attack she was rushed to Nambale Sub -County hospital and later discharged.
However, the efforts to get response from the wildlife department in the region were futile as the western regional wildlife officer Ms. Rose Malenya declined to comment saying she was not authorized to respond to the issue.
Cases of hippos on the loose terrorizing the residents are on the rise. The animal is believed to be residing from river Sio and comes out at night to graze damaging their properties.
