In the
News...
February 2007
The World Conservation
This month's stories:
Kenyan "witches" said to be communing with Hippos
In an unusual conflict between science and folklore, the Eastern Standard of Kenya reports that Mfang’ano Island in Mbita, Suba District, is a “no-go zone” after 6 pm. This is the time witches take control of the island and, according villagers, walk with hippos. In 1999, a witch, nicknamed "Sumu Dawa" was found transporting a live hippo in a public vehicle. It is claimed game rangers could not kill the animal despite shooting at it several times. The hippo, it is alleged, strolled into a bush, showing no signs of injury.
Philemon Matete of Koguna village in Central Mbita says the witches have evil powers and can harm anyone. Jared Ambasa, a local fisherman, believes witches compete in capturing the fiercest of wild animals. Ambasa says some witches have leopards while others have crocodiles and some are courageous enough to have hippos and pythons. "How these people capture the ferocious wild animals baffles many. Perhaps it is because of the powers they possess," he says.
According to a local chief who preferred to remain anonymous, difficulty arises because while there is widespread belief in witchcraft, it is either not recognized or almost impossible to prove in courts of law. He says the situation sometimes gets out of hand, leading to villagers taking the law into their own hands and lynching suspected witches. "Catching these witches with some of the animals they are said to own would be proof enough but that has also proved difficult," he says.
25 February 2007 (27-02-07)
Hippo attacks woman in South Africa
News24 (online) of South
Africa reports that, according to SABC radio, a 55-year-old woman was
killed by a hippopotamus at Nsavulani village outside Giyani in Limpopo
on 28 January 2007.
Headman Zankosi Rikhotso said three women were fishing in the local river when the hippo attacked them. The other two woman escaped unhurt.
The SABC Saturday morning
news report quoted Rikhotso as saying that paramedics had certified the
woman dead when they arrived at her home. She had been carried there by
donkey cart.
3 Feb 2007
(27-02-07)
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