A person who witnessed the ambush started throwing stones at the hippo to stop the attack. Eventually, the hippo spooked the human attack and spat out the young man before retreating into the lake.
“It took the courage of one Crispas Bagonza, a bystander, to dislodge the victim after stoning the hippo and scaring it,” the Uganda Police Force said in a statement.
“This is the first incident of a hippo coming out of Lake Edward and attacking a young child,” police said in a statement.
Iga was taken to a nearby clinic for his injuries and later transferred to Bwera hospital in western Uganda for treatment. He was given a rabies vaccine and has since been released into the care of his parents, authorities said.
“Although the hippo is afraid to return to the lake, all residents near animal sanctuaries and habitats should be aware that wild animals are very dangerous,” the police said in a statement. “Instinctively, wild animals see humans as a threat, and any interaction can cause them to act strangely or aggressively.”
Hippos are the third largest land animal in the world and live mainly in the rivers, lakes and swamps of eastern, central and southern Africa. Virunga National ParkIt is located in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
In Africa, hippos kill about 500 people every year National Geographic, and is considered one of the deadliest mammals in the world. They are twice as deadly as lions. According to a study published in 2020, the probability of a hippo attack being fatal is between 29 and 87 percent. Oxford Journal of Medical Case Reports🇧🇷
In 2017, a Detroit woman was killed while on an African safari with her family. Carol Sue Kirken, 75, was attacked by a hippo while on vacation in Tanzania. Detroit News🇧🇷 He soon died in the arms of his son Robert obituary🇧🇷
Hippo attack survivor Kristen Yaldor said ABC News In 2019, while canoeing with her husband on the Zambezi River to celebrate her 37th birthday, a hippo pulled her under the water.
Behemoth grabbed Yaldor by the leg and beat him in the water for about 45 seconds. Yaldor said as he tugged on the hippo’s mouth and let it go. His femur was broken and he required seven surgeries to repair his right leg when he returned to the United States.
🇧🇷[I] he didn’t have a chance to scream, it was just too fast,” said Yaldor.
