A section of residents of Nyacaba and Witeithie villages in Juja, Kiambu County blocked police officers from collecting the body of a middle-aged woman who was mauled to death by a pack of hyenas.
The drama broke out on Saturday, December 2, 2023 morning hours after the remains of the woman had been found.
The woman is said to have been walking from Nyacaba area to Ndarugu for work when she was attacked.
The wild animals consumed part of the woman’s stomach and neck before they abandoned her remains by the roadside.
Reacting to the incident, residents denied police access to collect the body for preservation saying the government has been doing nothing to protect them.
It took the intervention of local leaders to allow police to pick up the remains at the mortuary.
The locals had used rocks and twigs to block the roads for hours.
The residents are now telling the Kenya Wildlife Service officers to hunt down the animals or else they kill them.
The residents barricaded the road leading to where the body was abandoned.
“We cannot allow them the collect the body when they have been doing nothing to protect us.”
“They only collect the bodies and leave the hyenas behind to continue attacking us. This will be the last person the hyenas are attacking. Police have two things to do, to collect the body together with the hyenas or leave the body here,” a resident said.
The incident happened days after a nine year old boy was killed in similar manner in the area.
The boy, a son of former Witeithie Ward MCA, was buried a week ago.
Residents blamed the increased hyena attacks on abandoned quarries and bushy chunks of land that have remained undeveloped for years.
They called for the immediate burying of the quarries and the clearing of the bushes to avert further attacks.
The pack is believed to have strayed from the nearby Ol-Donyo Sabuk Game Reserve where they usually roam.
Such attacks are common in the area.
Last year in September, a nine-year-old boy was mauled to death by a pack of hyenas.
This year, a 35-year-old man from the neighbouring Athi village was attacked in a by about eight hyenas.
Earlier, two more people had been attacked by hyenas at Witeithie village in Juja and Thika constituencies, respectively.
The Directorate of Criminal Investigations in Juja has cautioned outraged residents to be cautious while an amicable solution is being sought.
In June 2021, the animals killed a man in the same area.
Two other similar incidents happened in 2022.
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