A woman who lost limbs and an eye after being attacked by hyenas at Tsavo National Park on the Mombasa-Nairobi Highway is pleading for justice after the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) rejected her application.
On Saturday, August 12, the middle-aged lady from Makueni County urged President William Ruto to intervene after the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) failed to include her among the victims lined up for compensation.
In 2018, the lady applied to Kenya Wildlife Service for compensation for the hyena attack injuries she sustained, and she has since been following up on the matter in the hopes of being rewarded.
According to the woman, KWS rejected her application without providing any explanation.
On August 17, 2018, she was allegedly thrown out of a lorry by a driver who had given her a ride in the middle of the night.
The two allegedly disagreed about something, which resulted in a heated exchange of words and her eventual ejection from the moving lorry.
The lady was left at the mercy of marauding hungry hyenas, who descended on her immediately.
As a result, she lost her left eyeball and had deep scratch marks on her chest, as well as a severe traumatic amputation of her left hand above the elbow joints.
She was taken to the Makindu Sub-District Hospital after the attack, where she received first aid before being transferred to the Machakos Level 5 Hospital, Kijabe Hospital, and Lions Sightfirst Eye Hospital.
According to John Mutunga, the medical officer at Machakos Level 5 Hospital, the lady suffered severe bodily injuries that left permanent scars all over her body.
The lady stated that her application was fully compliant with the Kenya Wildlife Management and Compensation Act of 2013, which requires KWS to compensate victims of wildlife attacks.
The amount of compensation payable is determined by the seriousness of the loss or injury. Normally, the death compensation is Ksh5 million, while the permanent disability compensation is Ksh3 million.
