Human-wildlife conflict is becoming a serious challenge affecting livestock farmers in Homa Bay County.
This follows increased cases of hyenas attacking and killing livestock in farmers’ homes. The hyenas invade the farmers in their homes at night and attack sheep and goats.
The latest incident occurred at Kasire village in Rachuonyo South on Monday.
The incident resulted in the death of two sheep and one hyena.
It began when the hyena broke the door of the sheep pen and attacked the livestock at Benson Kimuto’s home.
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Kimuto said he was asleep at midnight when he heard an unusual sound from the sheep pen.
When he walked out, he saw three hyenas attacking his sheep.
The sheep which had not been attacked managed to escape from the pen.
“The hyenas scared the sheep before most of them ran away from the pen when the attack escalated,” Kimuto said.
He said one hyena ran away but another one remained in the pen where it was killing the sheep.
Kimuto raised an alarm which attracted the attention of residents.
Residents who were armed with crude weapons responded to the distress calls
They launched killed the hyena on the spot.
Meanwhile, the hyenas had killed two sheep in the pen.
Residents said they were retaliating after the wild animals developed a habit of killing their livestock.
“The hyenas are causing economic losses. They have killed my sheep and we are worried that the attacks may continue,” Kimuto said.
Kamyowa Sub-location Assistant Chief Joseph Omoro said his office had received many cases in which farmers complained that the wild animals had killed their livestock.
He said they had liaised with the Kenya Wildlife officers to look into the matter.
“Cases of wild animals’ attack on livestock are on and off. We have liaised with the KWS officers about the matter,” he said.
The administrator urged residents to reinforce their fences to make it difficult for hyenas to break easily.
The residents complained of frequent attacks of their livestock by the hyenas suspected to be domiciled in Kodera Forest.
The administrator however, warned residents in the area from killing wild animals.
“Wildlife is very important. It is wrong to kill a wild animal. Let us reinforce fences in our homes,” Omoro said.
Another hyena killed four sheep owned by Gilbert Odoyo at Miramba village in Nyandiwa Sub-location in Suba Sub-county in July.
