By Manuel Odeny, @TheNyanzaNews
Residents of Ragana village in the outskirts of Migori town are living in morbid fear orf marauding hyenas upsetting graves and haunting them.
Residents around the Lichota cemetery being managed by the Migori county government have said the smell of rotting human flesh from shallow graves have attracted hyenas.
The wild animals have been digging up graves to feast on human remains, spreading bones and attacking animals.
When Nyanza News team visited the grave a shallow grave of a 13 years old boy was dug next to a mass grave.
“We are worried about such graves which are often dug in a hurry without proper outline, it is us who are left to bear the brunt of hyenas who feast on them,” Elphas Wasike a village elder said.
He said recently about 13 goats, sheep and even dogs have been killed by hyenas who have made it impossible to leave their homes past 8pm.
“Three howling hyenas passed by my homestead and killed my dog, they are getting bolder as they are done with digging up bodies,” Wasike said.
Sam Nyaganda said often smell of decaying bodies invade the village and walking in the cemetery is hard as they often come across human skulls and bodies.
Residents said the place should be fenced and a caretaker permanently placed there.
Franklin Ochieng Orwa a public works officer and Assistant Chief for Upper Marindi Sub-location Justus Ochieng’ who has been in charge of the cemetery for 15 years admits there are hyenas that exhume the graves.
“We have people who always dig shallow graves or sneak and make burials hurriedly to avoid paying fees to the county,” Orwa said.
READ ALSO: (VIDEO) Lichota residents face stench of death, howling hyenas digging bodies in cemetery
Ochieng confirmed the challenges brought by hyenas and said they have already contacted Kenya Wildlife Services to help them.
Migori county health executive Awuor Nyerere said they have plans to fence off the cemetery and put in place by-laws to charge those who bury in the cemetery without permit.
He said as per Migori records, they only buried about 100 unclaimed bodies in the cemetery and have not record of private burials.
