Thank you for watching Scary Animal Attacks!
Today’s episode
whisks us away to the rural region of Chirumanzu in Central Zimbabwe in Africa, to a village
called Bulawayo.
The topography of Zimbabwe is unique as the entire country slants up toward the west.
The eastern lands lower in elevation receive more rainfall and steadier temperatures.
The west portion can be over a mile high in elevation and varies from the mid 50’s to
70’s.
The western portion also has a distinction between the rainy and dry seasons that is
not as dramatic as the eastern portion.
Although most of this nation is savannah, which is open grasslands with sparse trees,
there are forests of evergreen and teak trees in places.
Animals that are common in the savannah include elephants, wildebeest and innumerable antelope
species, lions and the animal with the hilarious laugh, the hyena.
On Friday, November 20th, of 2020, 46 year old Tendai Maseka was finishing up a night
of drinking beer at a nearby bar.
He walked home late at night and immediately went to bed to sleep off the libations . Ever
since the Covid 19 pandemic stopped the tourists from coming to his area, things have been
hard and money even rarer than normal.
The dry season always brings a tension to the savannah but this year local reports of
missing goats and cattle are on the rise.
Animals become more concentrated around water resources in the dry season, which puts territorial
animals at odds and competing for prey.
They have to invade another pack or pride's territory or they must stay on their territory
and get by.
Tendai has watched this cycle play out many times over his life.
Tendai’s walk home in the dark was without human company, but there was non-human company.
The local Hyena clan has been watching the man slip through the darkness and the opportunity
he presents does not go unnoticed.
They follow him from a short distance and watch as he flips the door to his mud hut
open, and forgets to secure it completely.
As Tendai drank his beer, the resident hyena clan searched for food.
The dry season has emptied their territory of most of their typical prey and they have
been encroaching on the farms of the area killing livestock, but they are about to do
something that will change the clan's relationship with the farmers forever.
The clan cautiously approaches ever closer to his home.
They smell the human inside and their empty stomach’s churn with the idea of having
anything to eat.
The clan slowly approaches the closed door to his house and peer inside through the lattice
of the door.
They can see in the dark and their sense of smell and hearing are very acute, but right
now, their hunger is what is driving.
As the boldest of the clan approached the door, it slid open as it wasn’t very well
secured.
Tendai’s scent fills their nostrils and once the attack starts, it only gains momentum.
The clan converges on him and screams fill the air.
The clan drag him by his leg outside where the frenzied attack culminates with Tendai’s
fight for life being overcome by the clans . pursuit of the same.
In the morning, a neighboring farmer walks by Tendais hut and sees something peculiar
a short distance from his hut.
As she approaches this oddity she sees the horrific sight of Tendais severed head resting
in the grass.
She runs to get help from her elders.
There is a small group of the area men who approach Tendais hut and they inspect the
inside while trying to confirm the girls story.
The inside of his hut is splattered with his blood and the men see drag marks leading from
his front door.
All around his hut, Hyena tracks begin to tell the tale of the night's events.
As the men follow the drag trail they can see pools of blood where the clan apparently
stopped to tear pieces from his body.
They carry on further along the drag trail and come to find Tendai’s severed head,
just as the young girl said.
An inspection of the area yields one of his arms, then the other.
It appears the hyena clan was chewing off Tendai’s appendages from his body as they
dragged him along.
Finally they come to his severed legs and observe the scattered hyena tracks and scat
all around the spot where they consumed his body over the night.
They collected the remaining body parts and buried them.
The hyena used their extremely powerful jaws to consume his hip and shoulder bones but
didn’t consume his arms, legs or head before the men gathered them up.
The hyena clan dragged Tendais body just over one thousand feet as they stopped to consume
a portion here and there.
The authorities immediately dispatched government hunters to eliminate the clan of 6 hyenas
who live in the area and were immediately suspected of the attack.
No further sources could be found that indicate whether the hunters efforts were fruitful
or if they failed.
This attack was one of 60 human fatalities in Zimbabwe caused by wildlife and the third
by hyenas after two siblings were killed while picking fruit.
Thank you for watching Scary Animal Attacks and be careful out there, because you don’t
want to end up on an episode of Scary Animal Attacks!