Malawians flee 'terror beast'

At least three people have been killed and 16 others severely injured by a mysterious wild beast running wild in a mountainous region of Malawi.

The rampaging beast in Dowa district, some 100 km from the capital Lilongwe, has sent at least 4,000 people fleeing four villages to seek refuge at a community hall at the district headquarters.

Parks and Wildlife Officer Leonard Sefu said his department believed the mysterious beast could be a rabid hyena but said it was strange for a hyena to terrorise whole villages without being cornered.

He said his department was examining the maimed people to establish what the animal could be.

Dr Matius Joshua, the Dowa District Health Officer, told me on Wednesday afternoon that two old women and a three-year-old baby died when the beast crushed their skulls and ate their intestines and private parts.


The rest of the story is interesting. Possibly another lion attack like the ones that happened in 1836? I believe those lions killed over 130 people.

Heres a link

news.bbc.co.uk...

Very good story, and I agree, there is a resemblance to "The Ghost and the Darkness" scenario.

However, I believe that some patience, level headedness, and a .300 Winchester Magnum will soon settle the issue...

Do you doubt that its a Hyena as much as I do? Hyenas are primarily scavengers unless they are in large groups. And there is no indication of groups of animals in this story.

Ive studied animals for a long time and one I studied was the Hyena. They are generally pretty small animals. Heavy, but not tall. Very short hind legs. Shorter than the front at least.

But one thing that does signal a possible Hyena are the injuries. Hyenas have extremely strong jaws. Im talking Elephant bone crushing power.

Hopefully Ill hear more about this strory in the near future.

Originally posted by dragonrider

However, I believe that some patience, level headedness, and a .300 Winchester Magnum will soon settle the issue...

I was ready to post this argument.

Do you doubt that its a Hyena as much as I do? Hyenas are primarily scavengers unless they are in large groups. And there is no indication of groups of animals in this story. Posted by Tetsuo51

I agree, it is most likely not a hyena, as they are in fact scavengers. Although, as it was noted, it may have rabies, which will make most animals do things they normally would not do.

However, if it is a normal animal with rabies, it will soon die, and the problem is solved. If this is something else, there may well be a problem.

All I can offer is that someone with an appropriately sized firearm and a good deal of patience and hunting experience might be able to solve the situation.

I agree with that DragonRider. Ill have to look back on the article to tell whether this took place in night or daytime but if this happened at night it couldve been a Jaguar. Good point that you brought up with the rabies.

would seem to indicate a large predatory cat...

Gruesome...

Large animal requires large gun. forget .300;
They need a barret m82a1; or an armalite ar-50. thats what they need. Especially if this isn't a lion or hyena. could be another yeti; they seem to be popping up all over anyway, why not here.

the above is obviously from a relative "newbie" to the firearms field
How large of an animal do you think this is? How many inches thick is it's armor plating?
I think they are going to try to kill it, not vaporize it

Have you ever seen what kind of damage a Win. 300 Magnum does to an animal? Enough to take down a Bison easily so a large cat or hyena would be no trouble whatsoever.

Read a few more issues of "Guns and Ammo" and come back later

This story does kind of remind me of Ghost in the Darkness, (which as I remember was a pretty good movie at the time, pretty scary). The only thing that sticks out which makes me question whether or not it was a hyena is the fact that it crushed their skulls. Or maybe once the victim was down the hyena chomped on their heads or something. I'd be scared as hell if I were around that area right now, ever since I saw Ghost in the Darkness at a young age i've been having the occasional nightmare about a pack of lions stalking me and my family in and outside of our house...

hah..i'd take a pack of lions chasing me any day compared to a huge black spider as tall as the roof that was entering my parents bedroom one night (in a nightmare of course), or being buried alive in a coffin by a moster that had tenticle like arms that threw me in there, closed the lid, and buried me right next to the goal post on the footy oval at school.

the above is obviously from a relative "newbie" to the firearms field
"How large of an animal do you think this is? How many inches thick is it's armor plating?
I think they are going to try to kill it, not vaporize it

Have you ever seen what kind of damage a Win. 300 Magnum does to an animal? Enough to take down a Bison easily so a large cat or hyena would be no trouble whatsoever. "

Naw we need one of those huge elephant guns which can take down elephants and explode squirrels not to mention armor piercing silver covered uranium filled bullets blessed in holy water and dipped in anthrax...

Originally posted by dragonrider
Very good story, and I agree, there is a resemblance to "The Ghost and the Darkness" scenario.

However, I believe that some patience, level headedness, and a .300 Winchester Magnum will soon settle the issue...

Yeah - why don't we kill everything that moves on the surface of the planet? That way we wouldn't need any Cryptozoological website because they would simply be irrelevant. What a concept!

Jimbo

Originally posted by intrigue
Large animal requires large gun. forget .300;
They need a barret m82a1; or an armalite ar-50. thats what they need. Especially if this isn't a lion or hyena. could be another yeti; they seem to be popping up all over anyway, why not here.

How about napalm? Or just nuke the whole area??
heh

Jimbo

Originally posted by Tetsuo-51
Do you doubt that its a Hyena as much as I do? Hyenas are primarily scavengers unless they are in large groups. And there is no indication of groups of animals in this story.

Ive studied animals for a long time and one I studied was the Hyena. They are generally pretty small animals. Heavy, but not tall. Very short hind legs. Shorter than the front at least.

But one thing that does signal a possible Hyena are the injuries. Hyenas have extremely strong jaws. Im talking Elephant bone crushing power.

Hopefully Ill hear more about this strory in the near future.

Spotted hyenas at least, are very active predators. Like any other carnivore they will gladly take a free meal over one they have to chase down for themselves - as far as I'm aware, cheetahs are the only carnivore that does no scavenging, primarily due to being unable to chase away larger carnivores, and its delicate digestive system. Since they are almost always in packs, it's only natural that they would hunt as a pack. They're known to add humans to their food chain now and again.

The critter in the story could be just about anything, though. Dogs, baboons, leopards, lions, hyenas, etc.

Originally posted by TheWalkingFox
Since they are almost always in packs, it's only natural that they would hunt as a pack. They're known to add humans to their food chain now and again.

Hyenas? As far as I know there are very few records of a hyena or even hyenas hunting and/or killing a human. Well not under normal circumstances. I know about a rabid hyena that killed 9 people. Interesting enough it's the "mystery beast" this thread is about:

Police and wildlife rangers tracked down and killed a rabid hyena that mauled to death nine people and injured 15 in rural Malawi, officials said Wednesday.

(June 15, 2005)
Source

The Malawi hyena(s) were suspected (by the locals) to have been under human control - magically.

It is very rare for hyenas to attack people; goats and chickens are their normal prey.

Anthony Levuza, Director of Information for the Malawi Government, told the BBC that all the attacks happened at night but it was difficult to pinpoint the reason.

"There are several speculations going round, there is talk of witchcraft, but perhaps the animals ran short of food," he said.
...
Some superstitious villagers believe the man-eating hyenas were kept and fed by humans, who used to send them out on clandestine magical missions.

Source

Err.... I wonder why this thread was raised from the dead again?

[edit on 12-6-2007 by Gemwolf]