A man from Gamunorwa Village in Chiadzwa, Mutare who was trying to help fellow villagers who were being attacked by a hyena was killed after the animal turned on him last week on Thursday.
Charles Gamunorwa lost his life while two other villagers, Noah Jambaya and Petros Machona, sustained life-threatening injuries and were admitted to hospital, following the attack.
The hyena was killed by Gamunorwa’s brother, Valerio, as he tried to save his brother.
Speaking to The Manica Post at his brother’s burial last week on Friday, Valerio said he, together with his late brother and 10 other villagers, had rushed to assist Jambaya and Machona who were being attacked by the hyena. He said:
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.
Mr Jambaya, whom we had rescued, also took this opportunity to escape. Only an injured Mr Machona, Mr Tatenda Kusena and myself remained behind to fight the hyena.
When we tried to rescue my brother, the hyena charged towards us. We remained resolute in our quest to save my brother’s life.
When we hit the hyena with heavy stones, it would fall down but would regain its strength and charge towards my badly injured brother and continue mauling him.
He died a painful death, something that we never anticipated as we were relaxing as a family at his homestead 30 minutes before his death.
The late Gamunorwa left behind children aged eight, 10, 13, 15, and 18, whose mothers are also late.
Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority (ZimParks) spokesperson, Tinashe Farawo urged people to alert ZimParks and report to their nearest police station if they spot wild animals around their areas.
Five people were attacked by a hyena in Makoni District recently in another case of human-wildlife conflict in Manicaland.
More: Pindula News