Some hunters on Saturday killed a hippopotamus by the banks of River Gurara at Ashara village in Kwali Area Council of the FCT.
One of the hunters, Usman Mohammed, said the beast was shot with an arrow at about 4:12p.m.
He said the wild animal tried to escape but they trailed it and later found it dead at a forest near the river bank.
He said they had been hunting for the animal since Friday, after some villagers in the area came to inform them that they sighted it.
“Before now, the hippopotamus had been terrorising residents and destroying crops, and even preventing fishermen from fishing in the river for many years now. That was why we had to target and kill it,” he said.
Our reporter, who visited the Gurara river bank where the animal was killed, met the Etsu of Yaba, Alhaji Abdullahi Adamu, and a large crowd of residents from neighbouring villages of Niger State who had come to have a glimpse of the animal.
Reacting to the incident, the chairman of Kwali Area Council, Mr. Joseph Shazhin, commended the bravery of the hunters for finally tracking and killing the hippopotamus, which, he said, had been terrorising people and destroying farm crops at the riverine communities.
“It was unfortunate that the animal was killed as it is an endangered species but on the other hand, I feel happy because the people who it has been terrorising will heave a sigh of relief,” he said.
