Angry Juja residents block Thika Road after hyena kills 4-year-old boy

A four-year-old boy was Wednesday mauled by a hyena at Flat Estate in Nyacaba area of Witeithie location in Juja.

This is the latest incident in the area amid calls on authorities to address the menace.

Police said the body of the boy was discovered long after he had been killed and partially eaten up by the wild animal.

The latest incident prompted angry locals to stage a protest on Thursday blocking the busy Thika Highway for hours.

They demanded action to address the menace. The residents vowed to eliminate all hyenas in the area.

"We want armed officers to accompany us and shoot the hyenas after we flush them out,” an angry resident said.

Police responded and used tear gas canisters to disperse the protesters who had used stones to block the road.

Multi-agency teams have been mobilised to track and trap the hyena.

Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua had last month announced that the government will track down and capture hyenas that have been mauling people and causing anxiety in Kiambu County's Juja estates.

Gachagua said the government will send a team of security personnel including those from Kenya Wildlife Service to the area to drive out the wild animals and address the threat in light of increased attacks.

He blamed the increase in hyena attacks in Juja on abandoned quarries, which could be used as hiding places for the hyenas before attacking the residents.

"We have gathered from KWS Director-General that the problem of hyenas in Juja is also the abandoned quarry sites. The death incidents are worrisome,” the DP said.

“We are sending a team to capture the hyenas and relocate them so that they do not become a menace. The quarries are also a security threat and can be breeding area for mosquitoes," Gachagua said.

He was responding to Juja MP George Koimburi's call for the government to intervene after a 52-year-old woman was mauled to death by a hyena recently.

The legislator said that in the past five months, the wild animals have killed several people, including children.

Early this year, a 10-year-old Dennis Teya was mauled to death by hyenas in the neighbouring Gwa Kigwi village.

Locals said they are worried about the safety of their children once schools reopen in two weeks.

They said failure by quarry miners to refill excavated areas and clear bushes has attracted wild animals that stray from nearby national parks.

They said quarries provide safe breeding and hiding abodes for the hyenas.

Most of the affected areas in Juja South are Nyacaba, Witeithia, Maraba and Kabati in Juja, Kiambu County.

Early this year, KWS said that it has so far trans-located 12 hyenas from Juja, in efforts to mitigate the human-animal conflict in the area.

Such attacks are common in the area amid calls for KWS to take action and manage the same.

This is part of the wildlife-human conflict that is common in places near national parks.

Many wild animals stray from major parks to villages.

KWS has mounted a campaign to address the menace, which includes fencing the areas.

The government and conservation groups have a compensation program for people and herders whose livestock is killed by wild animals.

Officials said the loss of habitat and climate change threatened the number of wild animals the wild and that their future looked "bleak".

The officials say policies aimed at enabling communities to co-exist with wildlife were vital.