Aug. 13 (UPI) — Hippo attacks on Saturday are blamed for the deaths of two people in Kenya, including a Chinese tourist.
The Kenya Wildlife Service confirmed the tourist, identified in news reports as 66-year-old Chang Ming Chuang, was taking pictures on the shores of Lake Naivasha outside of Kenya when the hippo attacked.
Chuang was taken to a nearby hospital where he was pronounced dead.
Chuang’s colleague, 62-year-old Wu Peng Te, was also injured in the attack and suffered minor bruises.
The KWS said it is “tracking the hippo.”
At the same lake but in a separate incident, a hippo attacked a fisherman while he was preparing his nets for a fishing expedition, Kenyan news site The Star reported.
Hippos kills about 500 people every year in Africa.
But David Kilo, chairman Lake Naivasha boat owners association, told The Star that attacks have increased in recent weeks due to increasing development into hippo habitats.
“We have witnessed cases of farmers fencing riparian land locking the animals in the water. The animals attack people as they have to seek new routes,” Kilo said.
