Baboon kills one-year-old boy at Murchison Falls

A one-year-old boy Isaiah Ibrahim Enyel was on Saturday attacked by the baboon and killed at Murchison Falls National Game Park in Purongo Sub County, Nwoya District.

At the time of the incident, the deceased who stayed at the camp with his parents was playing in front of the door, while the game rangers were at the parade and his mother was in the kitchen. The father of the deceased Okello Alex, a game ranger at Murchison Falls.

According to the community conservation warden at Murchison Falls National Game Park, Mr Wilson Kagoro, the child was badly injured on the stomach and the intestine came out, and efforts to save his life by rushing him to a nearby hospital yielded no results as he died on the way.

Mr Kagoro explained that the rangers responded and killed the baboon to avoid similar incidents in the future.

“What happened was an accident and I think the child was playing at the same time the baboon was searching for food and ended up killing the child. We knew where it was so we had to put it out of action because it would probably keep on doing the same thing,” he explained.

Aswa Region Police spokesperson, Mr Jimmy Patrick Okema, confirmed the incident saying that the report was made at Nwoya central police station.

Meanwhile, the body was handed to the family after the post-mortem was conducted, for burial.

Past incidents

In February 2019, a woman in Got Apwoyo Sub County was attacked and killed by two buffalos that crossed from Murchison Falls National Park.

In July 2018, a seven year-old-boy from Latoro in Got Apwoyo Sub County, was killed by a stray elephant.

Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) tried to dig trenches to stop wildlife from crossing to community, but it has not helped.