"No more fear"

Chimpanzee snatches baby from mother and kills it

(Bild: AFP/Issouf Sanogo)

A tragic incident has occurred in Bossou in Guinea: A chimpanzee snatched a human infant from a mother's back. The child was dragged into the forest and killed - witnesses reported that the girl was then disemboweled by the chimpanzee group.

The people in Bossou actually live together peacefully alongside the chimpanzees. The inhabitants of an agricultural self-sufficient community even believe that the animals are the reincarnation of their ancestors.

However, recently there have been more and more attacks by aggressive animals against humans - last Friday, an eight-month-old baby was the target of an attack. The mother was working in a field and had her daughter on her back when a chimpanzee attacked and bit her. It then disappeared into the forest with the infant.

Baby brutally mauled
It was finally found there, badly beaten by the mother. Witnesses reported that the child had been disemboweled - possibly even with tools. The monkeys may even have eaten their victim's organs.

In this video you can see how chimpanzees use tools. Interesting fact: monkeys can also be left-handed.

Villagers' anger directed at research institute
Some villagers then took revenge - not on the animals, but on a research institute that studies chimpanzees. "The way she was killed has angered the population," Joseph Doré, who was among the vandals, told Reuters.

The Bossou Institute scientists fled in vehicles, while the villagers destroyed computers, documents and surveillance drones and set fire to them. The army had to be deployed to calm the riot. The demonstrators had even brought the baby's body into the institute to demonstrate to the scientists what they had done in their eyes.

The Bossou Institute also confirmed that chimpanzee attacks on humans are on the increase: This year they would have already counted six, with the current case being the first fatal attack. The head of the Bossou Institute explained: "They are no longer afraid of humans," Gen Yamakoshi told the Times.

According to a local resident, a teenager is currently being treated in hospital, where he is recovering from a serious head injury after a monkey attack. Moussa Koya does not blame the animals, but their lack of food: "It is not their will, but it has become a habit of the chimpanzees."

Habitat of the ape group severely restricted
Due to intensive farming and new roads, the animals' habitat is limited to a forest area of around 16 square kilometers. As a result, the group is cut off from conspecifics and potential sexual partners who live on the other side of the hill. A newly constructed green corridor was intended to remedy this problem - because it drove local farmers off their land, the population would now also have too little to eat. In the past, the area would have been enough to provide people and animals with food.