Hyena-attack survivors recovering in hospital

TWO villagers from Masenyane area in Lupane District, Matabeleland North, are lucky to be alive after surviving a lone hyena attack on two separate incidents after they encountered the wild animal on the same day.

They are both recovering at Mpilo Central Hospital with various degrees of injuries from the attacks and are in stable conditions.

The attacks occurred on November 1, in the grazing lands of Masenyane village where the two villagers were separately herding cattle.

Mr Prizemore Ndlovu (19) was the first to encounter the marauding beast on that fateful afternoon when he was fetching water from a shallow well for the cattle to drink.

He told a Chronicle news crew on his hospital bed yesterday how his attention was drawn to a strange sound coming from behind a thicket a few metres from the shallow well.

He immediately saw the herd of cattle scattering in different directions before he came face to face with the hyena.

“I remember looking straight at the hyena as I made my way from the water well then it started moving towards me,” said Mr Ndlovu.

“At that time, the cattle had run away and I was exposed, standing face to face with the hyena. I whistled as loud as I could, hoping to scare it away but instead it attacked and grabbed my arm and started shaking it violently.”

With no weapon in sight to defend himself from the wild animal, Mr Ndlovu said he used his right hand to grab its nose before punching it as hard as he could.

“The attack must have lasted less than two minutes. I grabbed the hyena’s nose and punched it several times before it let go of my arm and retreated a bit. I used that opportunity to stand up and run as fast as I could,” he said.

Mr Ndlovu said he used a torn T-shirt to wrap around his injured arm to stop the bleeding as he headed to the nearest homestead to seek assistance.

Less than a kilometre away from where Mr Ndlovu was attacked, another villager Mr Oscar Nyoni (33), who was also herding cattle, had no idea that he was also about to come face to face with the predator.

He encountered the hyena on the banks of a river as he was rounding up his cattle to head home. For Mr Nyoni, the hyena appeared from nowhere before attacking and grabbing his arm.

“It all happened so fast and I think the hyena was going for my throat, but I swung my hand and it grabbed the arm. I fell to the ground and fortunately picked up a stick, which I used to strike the hyena with,” he said.

“I think I disturbed the hyena before it attacked one of the cows, so it turned its attention to me. My arm was torn into two pieces and I have been told by the doctors that a metal plate will be inserted in the arm. We are both lucky to be alive as few people have survived hyena attacks,” said Mr Nyoni.

He said the area where the two attacks occurred is not new to hyena sightings but not in broad daylight.

“From time to time, we do encounter wild animals but not during the day. I believe that it’s bad omen to be attacked by a hyena in broad daylight,” he said.

Both Mr Ndlovu and Mr Nyoni were first admitted at St Lukes Hospital in Lupane after the attacks and were referred to Mpilo where they were ferried by ambulances.

Mpilo Central Hospital public relations officer, Mrs Norma Mabena, said anyone willing to assist the injured villagers can approach the medical institution to arrange for a meeting with them.

She said the hospital also notified the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority (ZimParks) that a marauding hyena was on the loose in the Masenyane area.