Can hyena be found in Nigeria?

Can hyena be found in Nigeria?

KANO, Nigeria, Aug 18 (Reuters) – A hyena may not be your average house pet, but in northern Nigeria some men keep the creatures in their homes, display them at festivals and even use their dung or saliva to make remedies.

Can a hyena be a pet?

Perhaps not surprisingly, the answer is no, absolutely not. They’re hyenas. They’re not even friendly in “The Lion King”! That hasn’t stopped some people from trying to domesticate them, though, with mixed results.

What problems do hyenas face?

Human-wildlife conflict is a major threat to hyenas. Like many carnivores, hyenas come into conflict with humans when they prey on livestock. They are often seen as a pest species, which often results in retaliatory killings by farmers — especially by poisoning.

Why do Ethiopians feed hyenas?

That is what makes the Ethiopian city of Harar, in eastern Ethiopia, such an oddity. In Harar, the hyenas have been fed outside the city walls for centuries. The practice started with Sufi Muslims, who fed them leftover meat to mark an important Muslim holiday.

Can you have hyenas as pets in Africa?

#1 – Hyenas as Animal Friends You would think that hyena can’t make pets, but you would be wrong. In the Western African country Nigeria, there is a group of people known unofficially as The Hyena Men.

Are hyenas aggressive?

Aggressiveness, it turns out, varies drastically among hyenas; some hyenas tend to threaten – or outright attack – group members more frequently than others do.

Are hyenas sacred?

The spotted hyena is a sacred totem animal for some Pedi tribes, with the skin often being used as robes by chieftains and their bones as divining instruments. According to the doctrine of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, hyenas are unclean animals which represent sexual deviancy and lawlessness.

Are there hyenas in Addis Ababa?

Addis Ababa is plagued by urban hyenas that have moved in to the city from the surrounding hills and taken up residence in the capital.

Can you keep a hyena as a pet in Nigeria?

KANO, Nigeria, Aug 18 (Reuters) – A hyena may not be your average house pet, but in northern Nigeria some men keep the creatures in their homes, display them at festivals and even use their dung or saliva to make remedies. Abdullahi Jahun comes from a line of hyena men, as they are called.

Who are the hyena handlers in Nigeria?

In the northern part of Nigeria roam Gadawan Kura’ (which loosely translates as “hyena handlers”), “a group of itinerant minstrels, performers who use wild animals like hyena, python & baboons to entertain crowds and sell traditional medicines,” popularly called “Hyena men”.

Why do the hyena men risk life to find pups?

When the Hyena men reach these villages the people welcome them knowing that they will put an end to their miseries. These men risk life to find pups and go deep into cave systems where there is no light and an angry mother that is ready to rip off anything that tries to touch her pup .

Who are the hyenas?

The story of these nomadic people was first told by Pieter Hugo . A Johannesburg based photographer who works to document marginalized and downtrodden groups mainly in Africa. The public still perceives hyenas as a rotten, smelly scoundrel that is a good-for-nothing scavenger.