Hippo kills two teenagers in Rakai district

Rakai, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Two teenagers in Rakai district have died in a hippopotamus attack in Lake Kijjanebarola. The dead are Kaggwa Ssekiranda,16, and Godfrey Mugabi,17, both residents of Kirindamariga village in Lwanda sub-county.

The two were fishing in Lake Kijjanebarola when the hippo attacked them. It is said that the giant mammal emerged from nowhere and hit their canoe forcing it to capsize. The search for the bodies went on until Tuesday.

Joshua Kananura, the Rakai District Police Commander says that fishermen and the police managed to retrieve the bodies and took them for postmortem before handing them over to the deceased’s relatives. Kananura attributes the incident to the use of a small canoe, which was too easy for the giant animal to crash within seconds.

Emmanuel Mukasa, a fisherman in Kirundamariga says that they have appealed to Uganda Wildlife Authority to drive the hippos away from the community in vain. He says they are not willing to lose another person because of negligence of UWA officials since the hippos stray beyond the 200 meters into communities.

Apart from threatening the fishing activities, the hippos have ravaged people’s crops, which may cause food shortages in the village and the whole sub-county.

Vincent Kabanda, the Kibona Parish councilor says that several communities in the parish are equally affected. He says that the hippo invasion of gardens and plantations as well as numerous attacks on human beings and animals has been a common concern among residents around the lake for years.

He says they stray from their habitats, threaten lives and destroy crops, adding that efforts to control them have failed yet killing them is a crime.

Charles Muliira, the Lwanda LC3 chairman says stray hippos usually roam different communities but they are sensitizing people not to encroach on their habitats. Bashir Hangi, the UWA spokesperson says that the animal capture team will identify the affected communities and drive the animals back to their habitats.

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