Chimpanzees, baboons attack residents

WESTERN PROVINCE NYAMASHEKE— A group of Chimpanzees and Baboons on Tuesday this week attacked residents of Uwakagano community settlement in Ibanda in Rangiro sector. One boy, Jean Pierre Nsabiimana Bavakure, 17, to near death. According to father of the child Damascene Murindabigwi, the primates from Nyungwe National Park attacked the two as they tried to chase the animals from their maize and banana plantations, where crops had been destroyed the night before. Nsabimana was immediately rushed to Ibanda health centre in poor conditions and was later transferred to Kibogora hospital, where he is currently under care. Murindabigwi says that wild animals, especially baboons, chimpanzees and monkeys, always come to their agricultural fields, destroying products and crops in the mean time. Residents have been reporting the problem to security authorities and park wardens but nothing has ever been done to solve the problem. In a unrelated incident, Abdallah Ntibanoga, 65, lost fingers on his right hand last month when chimpanzees and baboons attacked him in his garden. He also revealed that sometimes students failed to go for studies due to fear that these animals from the park might attack them on their way to and from schools. However, a park warden speaking on conditions of anonymity said that residents in Rangiro sector were carrying out agricultural projects that instigated the animals. Ends