Father of six killed by elephant in Makueni two years after surviving hyena attack

A 72-year-old man was on Wednesday night killed after a marauding elephant attacked him at Likoni village in Kibwezi East Constituency, Makueni County.

Mzee Musili Musembi, who is reported to have survived a hyena attack in 2020, was trampled to death by the lone elephant as he made his way home during the night of the incident. 

In the 2020 attack, the deceased is said to have confronted a hyena that had attacked his livestock. He sustained a bruise on his hand as a result.

Irate residents held on to the body of the father of six on Thursday in protest of what they termed as the Kenya Wildlife Services' (KWS) slow response in addressing cases of human-wildlife conflict in the Tsavo East National Park bordering region.

The residents, who barred police from retrieving the man's body, wanted KWS wardens to put down the wild elephant and demanded an audience with Wildlife Cabinet Secretary (CS) Penina Malonza.

Police were forced to fire in the air to disperse the angry crowd in order to recover Musembi's body.

His body has since been moved to Kibwezi Hospital Mortuary for storage.

In recent months, area residents have decried the rising cases of human-wildlife conflict in the region, which have led to the loss of lives and mass destruction of property and agricultural produce.

In response, the Makueni County Government and the Tsavo Trust, a local conservancy, erected an electric fence to keep the wild animals at bay but to no avail. 

According to BBC Wildlife, wild elephants kill on average 500 people each year.

"Groups of elephants have been known to raid farms and villages, and will gore or trample any humans that get in the way. One blow from an elephant is enough to kill, and around 500 deaths a year are caused in this way," says BBC Wildlife on its official website.