By Kwanta Douglas –
Kenya’s capital Nairobi, police, on Tuesday said a pack of hyenas killed two people over a span of 24 hours in a village just 50 kilometres (31 miles) in the east.
The hyenas, numbering about 20, mauled a man on Monday in the village of Kamuthi near the industrial town of Thika as he was returning from his job at a quarry, police said.
A second man accompanying the victim “narrowly escaped by the skin of his teeth,” police said on Twitter.
Barely 24 hours after the first attack, the hyenas struck again with residents finding a fresh human skull in one of the village farms.
“Police and Kenya Wildlife Service officers visited the scene and confirmed the incident, where a skull, scattered bones and torn bloodstained clothes were found,” the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) said, adding that hyena footprints were found at the site.
Reports of wildlife straying into human habitats in Kenya have increased in recent years as the animals come under growing pressure from cities expanding into ancient migration and hunting grounds.