Feeding time with Harar's Hyena Man

(12 Oct 2015) LEAD IN:
In the Ethiopian city of Harar, taming wild hyenas was the final option.
During severe droughts and food shortages, the scavenging animals crept into the city and preyed on livestock.
For Harar's first so-called 'Hyena Man', the wild animals aren't just a source of income, but a way of life.
STORY-LINE:
Nighttime on the outskirts of Harar - a walled city around 525 kilometres east of Ethiopia's capital Addis Ababa - and the hyenas are prowling.
But for one man, these wild, hungry scavengers no longer provoke fear, they're just a nightly ritual.
In his mid-60s, the so-called 'Hyena Man', Youssef Mumme, is preparing scraps of meat to feed the hyenas.
He's been feeding the wild animals daily for around 50 years now; this evening's ritual is no different.
"A very long time ago, the hyenas used to attack people," says Mumme.
"They even used to dig up graves to eat buried corpses. But ever since we started feeding them like this, hyenas have stopped attacking people. And since there were no people that do what I do, tourists started to come in numbers."
Mumme was just a teenager when his father first decided to begin feeding wild hyenas.
That impulsive decision inadvertently began a decades-long tradition which Mumme still observes to this day.
"A hyena gave birth in our farmland. And my father would buy scraps of meat for our dog and give some to the hyena as well," says Mumme.
"And all the hyenas never attacked our livestock since. One day our dog ran away with the chain still tied around his neck. He was later tangled up in the fence trying to come back. He spent the entire night outside but the hyenas didn't touch him."
Having spent much of his life interacting with hyenas, it's not surprising that Mumme has received some injuries.
A few years ago, he was attacked by a hyena while feeding it - a "minor accident" he says.
"I had an accident only once," says Mumme.
"One day I was feeding the hyenas. And the hyenas were brawling with each other. And due to that chaos one of the hyenas bit my hand and dragged me away."
As light grows scarce, Mumme and his son, Abbas Youssef, begin their show in front of a crowd of awestruck onlookers.
Twenty-year-old Youssef was just seven years old when he first began helping his father feed the hyenas, he now sees them as friends.
"I started this by helping my father when he feels tired. And now the hyenas and me are like friends. We are very close with each other. And I cannot sleep at night if I fail to come here and at least see them," he says.
Local and international tourists flock daily to watch Mumme and his son feeding the hyenas.
Some are even brave enough to feed the animals with sticks themselves.
Local tourist Mamush Bidiko is from Hosaena, a small town in southern Ethiopia. He's seen hyenas before, but never this close up.
"What I know in my town is that hyenas eat humans after 6pm, but here these people set up a show feeding tamed hyenas for a price," says Bidiko.
"What impresses me is that you can give the hyenas meat from a stick in your mouth. I was very terrified at first, but when everyone encouraged me I managed to feed the hyena with meat from a stick which I held in my teeth."
As night turns to day, light reveals the ancient walled city of Harar.
Here, hyenas aren't seen as the timid creatures Mumme and his son meet every evening, but wild, hungry animals that feast on livestock, sometimes worse.
The most recent serious incident happened in the winter of 2010, something 78-year-old city veteran, Kassahun Ayele, will never forget.
UNESCO recognised Harar Jugol as a World Heritage Site in 2006.

Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AP_Archive
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/APArchives ​​
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/APNews/
You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/d70405b8a37b16db2e8335621807571b

Видео Feeding time with Harar's Hyena Man канала AP Archive