Hyenas replace dogs in Addis Ababa
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 2010:
(published October 5, 2010)
ADDIS ABABA–Predators, including hyenas, are in decline
across Africa–but not in Addis Ababa, the capital city of Ethiopia.
Like coyotes in North American cities, hyenas are becoming
established in the suburbs, parallel to a steep drop in the numbers
of free-roaming dogs.
Chiefly nocturnal, the Addis Ababa hyenas are seldom seen,
but the staff of the Donkey Sanctuary clinic in the grain market
district on the west side of the city see increasing numbers of hyena
bites to the hindquarters of donkeys, along with the more familiar
injuries resulting from overloading, traffic accidents, and
improper care–and the rabies and anthrax cases that are also not
uncommon in Ethiopia, where animals are rarely vaccinated against
either disease.