Hippos terrorise Bondo villagers, injure 9-year-old boy

A nine-year-old boy is recuperating at Bondo Sub-County Hospital after he was attacked by a hippopotamus at Nyamagonglo beach in Bondo Sub-County on Saturday evening.

According to a villager Lawrence Nyamolo, the Class Two pupil had gone to fetch water together with his 13-year-old sibling when they were attacked by the rogue hippo.

He told The Standard that the children had gone to fetch the water when the animal attacked them just before they left for home.

Nyamolo stated that after the hippo attacking and seriously biting the buttocks of the little boy; his sibling screamed before the hippo dropped the boy and returned to the water.

In the event some of the residents who happened to be around place rushed to the scene and rescued the boy before calling his parents who picked him to the hospital.

Siaya County Beach Management Units Network chairman Meshack Okuku Ndiege confirmed the incident and pleaded with the government through the Kenya Wildlife Services to move with speed and control the hippos to reduce the increasing rate of human-wildlife conflict in the region.

The incident comes barely a week after two fishermen were attacked and killed by a hippo in Utonga beach.

The two, Domnick Ojaro Akach,33,  and his brother Arthur Ouma Akach were on their fishing expedition when they were attacked by the rogue animal.

According to Utonga Sub-Location Assistant Chief Asha Chacha who confirmed the incident, the hippo broke their boat into pieces and thus made them drown.