At least eleven people have been attacked in the last seven months and other two infants died in human-chimpanzee attacks in Masindi district, leaders and residents say.
The most affected communities live within Budongo sub-county, Bujenje County in Masindi district.
The rise in cases of chimpanzee-human attack has been revealed by the leaders on Sunday following another three-month-old baby killed as a result of Chimpanzee attack on Saturday.
This happened four months after another death incident was reported in Wiliya village.
Hannington Andama, the area LC1 chairperson of the above village, said that the recent incident happened on Saturday at around 12:10 pm.
He warned that chimpanzees have become a serious threat, often venturing into communities.
According to him, the increase in cases is as a result of human beings sharing the same water sources with chimpanzees, and thus causing conflicts between those different creatures.
Andama appealed to the government to fence off the forest and provide alternative water sources outside the forest to reduce human-wildlife conflict.
Kenneth Kiiza Nyendwoha, the Bujenje County Member of Parliament, said the area has registered an increase in wild animal attacks, particularly involving chimpanzees targeting young children.
He revealed that in the past four months, two children under one year have been killed, and at least eleven chimpanzee related attacks have been recorded over the last seven months.
Nyendwoha added that he has repeatedly raised the matter with relevant ministries, including the Uganda Wildlife Authority and the Ministry of Tourism, but no action has been taken.
He called for urgent intervention to prevent further loss of life.
Wilson Kagoro, the Uganda Wildlife Authority Conservation Officer at Murchison Falls National Park, said that the authority is aware of the incidents, and sent their team on ground to assess the circumstances.
He noted that Chimpanzees attacks and killings are among the compensable animals if at all the incident happened in the community land or unprotected or ungazetted area.
On Saturday
An eyewitness, Harriet Katusiime, said the baby began crying, prompting the mother to breastfeed. In the process, chimpanzees reportedly emerged from the forest, grabbed the baby, and fled back into the forest.
Mark Bogere, another eyewitness, said he had gone to collect logs when he heard chimpanzees making loud noises, prompting him to seek a panga to scare them away and prevent possible attacks.
Upon rushing to the scene, he found four chimpanzees, one of which was biting the baby. When he confronted them, the chimpanzees dropped the baby and ran back into the forest.
Julius Birija, the baby’s father, said he was informed about the incident while at work, noting that the baby died while being rushed to the clinic for treatment.
He has appealed to the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) to intervene, citing repeated fatal attacks in the area.
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