Jebba: Hunters 10-Hour War Against Hippo

It took the 30 hunters who were armed with spears of various sizes and shapes, about 10 hours of ceaseless attacks on the beast that had gone wild before it could be killed.   It was gathered that the small hippopotamus that brought commercial and agricultural activities in the area and around the neighborhoods to […]

It took the 30 hunters who were armed with spears of various sizes and shapes, about 10 hours of ceaseless attacks on the beast that had gone wild before it could be killed.

 

It was gathered that the small hippopotamus that brought commercial and agricultural activities in the area and around the neighborhoods to a complete standstill, was the last in the family of three.

According to some sources, the small hippopotamus was forced to act wildly after it was disowned by its family, for fear that it could dispossess its father’s wife.

Sarkin Ruwa of Jebba (man in charge of the river), Malam Abdullahi Jibril, said Jebba and its neighbouring communities that are located along the riverine area of River Niger, had been under a series of attacks by a large number of hippopotami that flourish in the famous river.

He added that most often, it was the farmlands of rice that were mostly hit whenever hippopotami struck in the area. Several hectares of rice farms could be destroyed by hippopotamus in one night.

The Sarkin Ruwa further added that when the beast attacked a farm land, after they have eaten to satisfaction they ensure that they turn the entire farm upside down, by uprooting every single crop in the area, before retiring back into the river.

The bitter experience of Jebba people in the hands of these wild water mammals did not stop only on their farmlands, but also made fishing activities along the riverine area impossible. This is because they (Hippos) could attack and kill the farmers and fishermen, who were unfortunate to fall into their traps.

Malam Jibril, 65, who was born in Jebba  further revealed that the hippopotami  in the area have a peculiar attitude of suspending any form of destruction during the raining season.But by the time farm produce are becoming ready for harvest,  that will be the beginning of the  havoc they wreak in the locality .

He said hippopotami are widely travelled water mammals, saying before the construction of Kainji Dam there were no stationary hippopotami along the riverine communities surrounding the Jebba area.

Hippopotami are a type of animals that could travel in the river from as far as Kebbi State in the far north, to Kogi State under water. But now with the construction of the dam, the mammals could not have easy movement and for that they must confine themselves to a particular place.

On January 3rd, this year, hell was let loose on one of the hippopotami that have been terrorizing the various communities along the Jebba area of River Niger, when over 30 hunters armed with local weapons launched an attack on one of the notorious hippopotami in the area.

The decision to attack the hippopotamus by the group of hunters was informed when the beast blocked the major road of the communities for seven days, thereby stalling all means of movement to either the farm or market places.

It became apparent that all other means employed to see that the animal was peacefully dislodged from the place failed, because all attempts were violently resisted. It was on this ground that the hunters resorted to use force on the hippo, which resulted in its death.

He said “The hippopotamus blocked the major road that links the various communities around Jebba area for one whole week. This rendered farming and commercial activities in the area impossible, hence the decision to dislodge it”.

Sarkin Ruwa explained that radius about two kilometers battling with the hippopotamus that was moving in the water, while they were on foot.

According to him, after a whole days battle that had started at about 8.00 am, the animal could not be subdued until after 5.00 pm, when it was finally killed.

Speaking to our correspondent the Village Head of Jebba, Etsu Yankpa, Alhaji Tetengi Mohammed, said rice is the major cash crop cultivated in the area, and noted that an individual from his domain could cultivate rice, up to 100 bags a year. But with the frequent invasion of their farmlands by the hippopotamus, particularly in this year’s farming season, many would hardly get 10 percent of their usual harvest.

Etsu Yankpa maintained that the destruction on both farmlands and human life,  reached its climax mid this year when virtually all his people who were into rice farming in the area,  lost their farm produce  to the ceaseless crops  destruction by the hippopotamus.

Most of the hippopotami that are giving the people of Jebba sleepless nights are the male child of their various families that have broken away, owing to rising rivalry over the females among them.

Alhaji Mohammed also said following the construction of a Dam in the area, the movement of hippopotamus in the area was usually between Jebba to Gbase or Bale, which is a distance of not more than 50 kilometers.

He said with the high presence of hippopotami in the river, fishing had become an impossible task to embark upon, considering the high level of risk associated with the business. He added that in the past they made use of bush lamps to trick the hippopotamus, but they are by day getting wiser, and are not so easily tricked now.

In the past when a bush lantern is kept in a particular place at night, all the hippopotamus within the radius would have their eyes glued to the burning flame, all through the period within which the fishing activities will last.

He lamented that at present   the trick was no longer effective, because when they saw a light like that they would be restless, running through all directions wildly. He said in that kind of situation, any reasonable fisherman must withdraw from the river and run for safety.

He added that if not for the fact that a hippo is a type of an animal whose presence could be noticed even a kilometer away, the beast could have killed many in the area.

If a hippopotamus is about a kilometer away its presence could best be noticed by the heavy noise it makes, as it uses its nose to blow water that forms a fountain in the air and this is followed by a loud noise.

Etsu Yankpa said “if not for the fact that the hippopotamus is an animal whose presence could be noticed from a distance because of its noisy activities in the water, many of us could have been trapped and killed by now. You know, we are all fishermen here”.

When the news of the hippopotamus killed in Jebba filtered out, government officials from federal and environmental state governments, trooped in to the village demanding from the villagers the reason why they killed the large water mammal.

It was in view of this that a meeting of stakeholders was organized at the instance of the Federal Ministry of Environment in the village,  and the meeting ended with a proposed  plan of coming back to teach the villagers  techniques on how to live peacefully with the hippopotamus.

He added that since they left till this moment of filing this report, there was no  official from either federal, state or local government,  that came back to them over the matter.

According to the village head, despite the failure of these government officials to come back as earlier promised, he was also grateful to them because, if not for their last visit, he would not have known where to report should there be another similar incident on their farmlands again.

He also appealed to the authorities concerned to come to the aid of those that lost their farm produce in August this year, by way of compensation, as that would enable them remain in their faming business.