Baby girl, 1, seriously injured by a chimpanzee in Hoima 

A one-year-old baby girl identified as Promise is currently receiving treatment at Hoima Regional Referral Hospital (HRRH) after being attacked by a stray chimpanzee on Friday March 6 in the morning in Kidukuru village, Dwoli parish, Kitoba sub-county in Hoima district.

Speaking of the incident, Richard Ganjana, father of the victim said that the baby was attacked by a chimpanzee while the family together with the baby were in the garden.

Ganjana said that the baby was grabbed by a chimpanzee from where she was lying with her mother to sleep as they worked.

He said that they only realised after the chimpanzee grabbed and dragged her into the bush. The baby got several physical injuries on the body including an abdominal cut with intestines split outside.

Her hands and legs were also fractured.

Ganjana, however, called for the government’s assistance with medication.

This incident reflects a growing trend of human-chimpanzee conflict in both Hoima City and Hoima District, where chimpanzees have drawn closer to human areas of residence, a settlement pattern that has led to the cause of a number of human, domestic animal, and bird casualties by chimpanzees.

By this, both death and permanent injuries in both humans and animals have been registered as a result of chimpanzee attacks.

There has also been massive destruction of human crops by chimpanzees, a conflict which has caused food insecurity among communities for years.

Edward Barongo, the LC1 chairman of Kidukuru village, noticed with concern the growing rate of chimpanzee-human attacks within his area of jurisdiction.

He said that the chimpanzees have lived for about ten years, causing now the fifth case of injuries.

The chairman noted that the notorious wildlife lives within human residential areas including gardens located along Kandere swamp, a swamp that links to the river Hoima in Dwoli then has its mouth in Lake Albert.

Barongo also revealed that on the night of Thursday March 5, the same chimpanzee had also attempted to attack one of the old women from her home.

He attributed the rising cases of human attacks by chimpanzees to competition for both water sources with a major target on kids and competition over food items.

The chairman said that several interventions have been put in place including engaging the government through UWA to reallocate such dangerous wildlife out of human territories, the efforts which have never yielded fruit.

Our efforts through phone calls for comments from UWA game warden Wilson Kagoro attached to Murchison Falls National Park (MFNP) were not successful at the time of this publication.