Video Shows Ethiopian City Where Kids Feed And Befriend Wild Hyenas

By :
AFP

In this Ethiopian city the locals are pretty friendly with the hyena population.

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Residents in Harar feed the predators, and this practice has become a tourist attraction – even children are getting friendly with them, as seen in this video.

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According to The Independent this tradition dates back to the 19th century, when local farmers started offering the hyenas food so they wouldn’t eat their livestock.

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Over the years the animals have become friends with the human residents of the city, and are familiar enough to let people feed them meat off a stick – braver people even let them pick meat from their mouthes.

As one farmer says in the video: “If we stop for a while the hyena would get hungry and they might destroy our property or attack our goats and cattle and eat them.”

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Another says a certain porridge they feed the hyenas can be used to predict that year’s weather.