Mirpur Zoo: Hyena attacks boy as he sticks hand thru fence

A child suffered severe injuries when a spotted hyena attacked him at the Bangladesh national zoo in Mirpur yesterday.

Sheuly Begum, mother of the two-year-old Saif, said, while visiting the zoo, her son accidentally slid one of his hands through the fenced cage of hyenas at 10:30am.

Within moments, a hyena bit the boy's right hand, severing it from below his elbow.

"My son was on my lap. At one point, I put him down from my lap while walking around the cage. Suddenly, I heard my boy screaming and saw a hyena running away with a portion of his hand," Sheuly told The Daily Star.

The boy was taken to the National Institute of Traumatology & Orthopaedic Rehabilitation (NITOR) in the capital's Sher-E-Bangla Nagar for treatment.

A doctor of NITOR who treated Saif said they have sent the boy to the Infectious Disease Hospital as the injury was caused by a wild animal.

Director of the Zoo Dr. Md Rafiqul Islam, however, said the family members of the boy crossed the first safety barrier ignoring the signs advising against it.

He said, after the hyena attack, the zoo's security and the boy's family could only free the boy from the jaws of the animal after it severed the hand.

The tragedy would not have happened if they did not cross the first safety barrier, he said.

He claimed that the zoo authority deploys security guards around cages of ferocious animals.

Asked why the guards did not prevented the family from crossing the first safety barrier, he said the authorities have launched investigations to find whether there was any negligence on the part of the security guards.

The director said three separate committees have been formed by his office, department of livestock services and the ministry of livestock in this regard.

Saif came to the zoo with his mother, maternal grandparents, and three others from their Gazipur residence to visit the zoo. His father Sumon Mia who hails from Naogaon, is a garment worker.