Brave Samaritan loses life in hyena attack
AS human-wildlife conflict escalates in Manicaland, a good Samaritan who was trying to help a woman who was being attacked by a hyena was killed after the animal turned on him last week on Thursday.
Two others, Mr Noah Jambaya and Mr Petros Machona, sustained life threatening injuries and are admitted in hospital, while Mr Charles Gamunorwa lost his life.
The marauding hyena was killed by Mr Gamunorwa’s brother, Valerio, as he tried to save his brother.
This incident comes hard on the heels of another case of human-wildlife conflict that saw five people being attacked by a hyena in Makoni District.
When The Manica Post visited Gamunorwa Village in Chiadzwa, Mutare last week on Friday, mourners were on their way to the cemetery to bury Mr Gamunorwa a few hours after he had succumbed to the hyena attack.
They made a brief stop-over at the area where Mr Gamunorwa was killed and conducted some rituals.
Valerio witnessed the fatal hyena attack and expressed anger and frustration over the tragic incident.
He said together with his late brother and 10 other villagers, they had rushed to assist Mr Jambaya and Mr Machona who had been attacked by the wild animal. However, the animal turned on his brother. “When we heard Mr Jambaya and Mr Machona crying for help, we teamed up with 10 other villagers and rushed to the scene. We were at my late brother’s homestead when we heard the commotion.
“The noise sounded like a cow was being attacked by a hyena. We rushed to the scene thinking that we were going to rescue the cow, not knowing that the hyena was attacking people. We realised that two people had been injured.
“When we got here, the hyena went straight for my brother, Charles, and knocked him down. When the other people we were with saw what was happening, they ran for their lives in different directions.
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