Two men are nursing serious injuries after being attacked Friday morning by a hippo in Unyama Sub County in Gulu district.
Police rushed to the scene of the attack, tracked the male hippo and killed it in Abera stream.
There was a mad dash as residents of Oding village, where the hippo was killed, emerged with knives, machetes and axes to chop off meat from the carcass of the 450 kilogram beast.
It is lately not uncommon to hear reports of hippos, elephants and buffalo attacking residents in Gulu and neighboring Nwoya district which border Murchison Falls National Park.
Oding residents say the hippo could have come from the nearby Aswa River by following the Abera stream which is a tributary of Aswa which in turn is a tributary of River Nile. It is rainy season and the rivers have swelled up.
One of the survivors of the hippo attack identified only as Orech is nursing a serious wound in the thigh and buttocks. Orech bumped into the giant creature while he was from his garden. He was rushed to Gulu hospital after the attack from where he is said to be receiving treatment.
Another survivor, Samuel Ocora was also attacked by the hippo while walking along the Gulu- Kitgum road. According to Ocora, the hippo charged at him after it emerged from under one of the bridges on Unyama stream, also a tributary of Aswa River.
Ocora said the animal bit his right hand and the thigh but he managed to escape. Ochora’s injuries appeared not to be life threatening. He was treated at Angaya Health Centre III, also in Unyama Sub County.
A Police officer who spoke on condition of anonymity said they had to act fast [to kill the beast] in order to protect the life of the residents from the marauding hippo.
The officer further said that they [police] contacted Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) before killing the animal. The officer said the Wild Life Authority advised that if the animal becomes wild, they should shoot it.
Dogs, Spears and Hunters
Before the police could arrive, a local hunter had already speared the hippo. Dogs were giving chase, the hippo was indiscriminately charging at anyone in its sight, according to Samuel Onen Marimari, a local hunter.
Unyama LC III Chairperson, Justine Toorach, who visited the area where the hippo was killed said it was the second time in less than a year that a hippo had attacked locals and destroyed crops. Toorach told Acholi Times that late last year, a similar incident happened causing fear among farmers which destroy large fields of crops.
