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"Residents of Athi River finally had their wish when today morning they captured the mother hippo that had delivered on the banks of River Athi near the Mombasa road bridge.

This came just a day after Kenya Wildlife Service rescued the hippo, estimated to be seven years old, back into the water. It appears the mother hippo lost its calf and returned to the birth place to search for it. Residents then frightened the mourning mother hippo from end to end until it got marooned in the water out of exhaustion.

The residents, mostly Kambas who are known to spare no animal when hungry, did not waste time. Young men wadded through the deep water and pounced on it with knives, pangas and swords and started gorging out chunks of meat while the animal was still alive. They were joined by boda boda operators who provided means to ferry the meat away.

It was everyone for himself as youths organised themselves in groups for some to cut the meat as the others conveyed it to the shores, never minding the highly polluted water that the meat was soaked in. It’s not clear what happened to her calf.

The hippo found herself on the shores as it looked for a good place to deliver herself of a young one. Reports have it that the hippo gave birth early yesterday on the banks of River Athi along the busy Machakos road and could not return to the water without her calf. It did not take long before the distressed hippo caught the eye of those who would only think of making a meal out of her.

Kenya Wildlife Service rangers are reported to have confirmed being notified about the incident by traffic officers. Mr Erustus Kanga, senior assistant director at KWS said when he arrived, the traffic base commandant was already at the scene. He knew he had to act quickly and called China Road and Bridge Company requesting to use of their crane to pull the hippo and her calf out of the mud.

“We were fast running out of time and the crowd was getting more restless. The hippo is an adult female about seven-years-old and it would be tragic to lose her. I knew their crane would arrive faster than ours. We called them and in under 20 minutes, they had arrived,” said Mr Kanga.

Mr Mike Zhang, China Road and bridge Company liaison officer, said many Chinese are environmentally conscious and would not just slaughter a wild animal and eat it. “We want to conserve the environment in any way we can. When KWS called, we were more than happy to lend a helping hand.”

Cases of wild animals straying into the open have become common lately. Mr Last month, KWS angered the world when it shot dead Mohawk the lion, who had strayed into residential areas.