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In Ethiopian city, 'hyena man' maintains truce between human and beast
VancouverSun ^ | August 5, 2010 | Kate Linthicum

Posted on 08/07/2010 5:25:37 AM PDT by Daffynition

Here in this medieval city in eastern Ethiopia, the humans and the hyenas are living in peace.

The truce began two centuries ago (or so the story goes) during a time of great famine.

There was drought in the hills where the wildlife roamed, and hungry hyenas had sneaked into Harar and eaten people.

Distressed, the town's Muslim saints convened a meeting on a nearby mountaintop. There, they devised a solution: The people would feed the hyenas porridge if the hyenas would stop their attacks.

The plan worked, and a strange, symbiotic relationship was born.

City leaders went on to create holes in the sand-colored stone walls that surround Harar to give the hyenas nightly access to the town's garbage. And in the 1960s, a farmer started feeding hyenas scraps of meat (goat, donkey, sometimes camel) to keep them away from his livestock.

That farmer was the first hyena man. Today the title belongs to Youseff Mume Saleh.

Lithe and quick, Saleh, who is unsure of when he was born but says he is in his early 50s, has high cheekbones, a pursed mouth and few words. He lives just outside the city walls, near an ancient Muslim shrine built around the trunk of a splendid fig tree. His home sits on an old landfill, the ground sparkling with shards of broken bottles.

Saleh's nightly feeding ritual has become an attraction for tourists, who hire guides to bring them here. He has grown accustomed to the flash of their cameras and the tips they slip him at the end of the night.

(Excerpt) Read more at vancouversun.com ...


TOPICS: Hobbies; Pets/Animals; Society; Weird Stuff
KEYWORDS: hyenas
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A VIDEO VIA GLOBALPOST

BBC: The hyena man of Harar


1 posted on 08/07/2010 5:25:41 AM PDT by Daffynition
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To: Daffynition

I suspect that one day he will be the feast.


2 posted on 08/07/2010 5:27:46 AM PDT by csvset
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To: Daffynition
Image Hosted by ImageShack.us
3 posted on 08/07/2010 5:31:38 AM PDT by cripplecreek (Remember the River Raisin! (look it up))
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To: Daffynition

Welfare explained.

Another entitlement program.


4 posted on 08/07/2010 5:32:15 AM PDT by Bubba (Build roads... Fight wars and stay out of MY live. FRREEEEEEDOM!)
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To: Daffynition

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dog

The bulk of the scientific evidence for the evolution of the domestic dog stems from archaeological findings and mitochondrial DNA studies. The divergence date of roughly 15000 years ago is based in part on archaeological evidence that demonstrates that the domestication of dogs occurred more than 15,000 years ago, and some genetic evidence indicates that the domestication of dogs from their wolf ancestors began in the late Upper Paleolithic close to the Pleistocene/Holocene boundary, between 17,000 and 14,000 years ago.

______________________________________________________

Another reason that Muslims are vital to the US space program. They are so far ahead of Western society/s


5 posted on 08/07/2010 5:32:37 AM PDT by sodpoodle (Despair - Man's surrender. Laughter -God's redemption)
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To: Daffynition

Those hyenas look huge.....


6 posted on 08/07/2010 5:33:36 AM PDT by Hot Tabasco (Peanut butter was just peanut butter until I found Free Republic.........)
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To: csvset

7 posted on 08/07/2010 5:35:27 AM PDT by Daffynition (There is no other cheese.)
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To: Hot Tabasco

Hyenas ARE huge.

I saw one in Singapore Zoo that was separated by a moat and a mound from the walkway. It was the most worrisome part of the entire adventure.


8 posted on 08/07/2010 5:37:50 AM PDT by James C. Bennett
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To: James C. Bennett

I’ve seen this on travel shows with the hosts feeding them.


9 posted on 08/07/2010 5:43:59 AM PDT by Dr. Ursus
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To: cripplecreek
I like the al fresco dining spots in Detroit.


10 posted on 08/07/2010 5:44:38 AM PDT by Daffynition (There is no other cheese.)
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To: Bubba

11 posted on 08/07/2010 5:45:31 AM PDT by Daffynition (There is no other cheese.)
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To: sodpoodle
Harar - 4th holiest city of Islam


12 posted on 08/07/2010 5:47:34 AM PDT by Daffynition (There is no other cheese.)
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To: csvset
I suspect that one day he will be the feast.

Yep.


13 posted on 08/07/2010 5:48:14 AM PDT by MaryFromMichigan
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To: Daffynition

I guess the hyena has right-of-way.


14 posted on 08/07/2010 5:49:35 AM PDT by Slings and Arrows (You can't have IngSoc without an Emmanuel Goldstein.)
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To: Daffynition

Dearborn, Michigan is the fifth.


15 posted on 08/07/2010 5:51:44 AM PDT by Slings and Arrows (You can't have IngSoc without an Emmanuel Goldstein.)
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To: Hot Tabasco

Fast Facts

Type:
Mammal
Diet:
Omnivore
Average life span in the wild:
Up to 25 years
Size:
Head and body, 34 to 59 in (86 to 150 cm); tail, 10 to 14 in (25 to 36 cm)
Weight:
110 to 190 lbs (50 to 86 kg)
Group name:
Clan
Size relative to a 6-ft (2-m) man:
Illustration: Hyena compared with adult man

16 posted on 08/07/2010 5:51:44 AM PDT by Daffynition (There is no other cheese.)
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To: Slings and Arrows

17 posted on 08/07/2010 5:54:11 AM PDT by Daffynition (There is no other cheese.)
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To: Daffynition

>> The people would feed the hyenas porridge if the hyenas would stop their attacks.

Is this a true story or just a fable that explains entitlements and welfare?


18 posted on 08/07/2010 5:55:05 AM PDT by Bryanw92 (Obama is like a rocket scientist....who's trying to do brain surgery with a hammer.)
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To: Daffynition

Does he get a handicapped parking card?


19 posted on 08/07/2010 5:55:39 AM PDT by Slings and Arrows (You can't have IngSoc without an Emmanuel Goldstein.)
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To: Bryanw92
The metaphor is plain: **We are family** the hyena man says.


20 posted on 08/07/2010 5:58:00 AM PDT by Daffynition (There is no other cheese.)
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