A one-month-old baby has died in Tanzania after being torn away from his mother by a monkey that had entered their home, authorities say, quoted by the BBC.
The child was being breastfed by his mother when a group of monkeys entered their home in Mwamgongo village in Kigoma, near Gombe National Park in western Tanzania. It is not clear what species of monkey attacked the mother.
Kigoma regional commander James Manyama said the baby died after villagers tried to use force to save him.
“(The mother) screamed for help and villagers rushed to her house to help her retrieve her baby… from several monkeys,” he told Tanzania’s Citizen newspaper.
The monkey that kidnapped the child reacted aggressively
Manyama said the baby suffered head and neck injuries and later died while receiving treatment.
Police urged citizens to remain vigilant of monkeys crossing from the national park.
But Manyama declared for BBC that in the three years since he has been working in the area, he has never heard of a similar incident, writes Mediafax.
There have been known incidents of larger wild animals such as elephants invading village lands near national parks and causing deaths among the population.