Thomas Mwangi, a resident of Gatara village that neighbours
the Aberdare forest was feeding his cows at 7 am on Thursday when he heard his
11-year-old grandson being instructed to change his uniform by his
grandmother.
The uniform the boy had won, he explained, was dirty.
But a few minutes later, Mwangi heard the boy let out a scream and rushed towards him with his panga.
“From a distance, I saw a strange animal swinging the boy
around. I was shocked. Every time the boy moved, it attacked him,” he
said.
By the time he got to the scene, the animal had subdued the child and was standing on his back.
Mwangi did not know how to rescue his grandchild as
attacking it with a panga could have hurt the boy.
“But just like a miracle, when I swung my panga to hit it,
it jumped and ran away and the child jumped up and hugged me. It fled as I watched,”
he said, explaining that he at first thought it was a hyena.
The family rushed the child to Gatara dispensary where they
were referred to Muriranjas subcounty hospital and the boy was admitted with
body pains and injuries on both hands.
A few hours later in the neighbouring Kiunju-ini village, a group
of children were playing on the farm at one pm when they suddenly started
screaming.
Farmers who were working in nearby farms rushed towards them
only to find them being attacked by an animal.
Samuel Mwangi said when they got to where the children were,
they found one being accosted by an animal and chased it away.
The four-year-old child had been attacked and had deep cuts
on the neck, face and head.
As the villagers rushed the child to the hospital, the
animal came out of hiding and followed them closely without their knowledge.
It then targeted him and chased him until he lost his breath
when it tackled him, biting him on the head.
Luckily, Mwangi was armed with a panga that he was working
with on the farm and hit the animal with it on the head, killing it a few
minutes later.
“We all headed to the hospital and have been treated,” he
said, showing off his bloody shirt and bandages on the head.
Thuku Kamau said they are now living in fear as the animals
have been howling all night long, disrupting their normalcy.
“We are not sure what animals these are but we think they
are jackals. The two children and man are lucky to have survived the attacks
but we need the government to come in and help control them so that lives are
not lost”.