A seven-year-old boy is battling for his life at Kamwenge health center IV after a chimpanzee bit off his buttocks in Kibale National Park on June 1, 2013.

The boy identified as Paddy Ankunda, was attacked by the chimpanzee as he was walking along the forest in Kibale National Park in the afternoon together with a colleague identified as Amos Tukundane, 13.

According to his colleague, the chimpanzee attacked him from behind as he was moving from his home in Kahungye Parish and when he tried to escape, it over powered him and grabbed him before eating off his buttocks.

The mother of Ankunda, who is currently taking care of him in the hospital, Mary katusiime, said that she was shocked when she had that her only son had been eaten by the chimpanzee.

“I was shocked when I was called by a neighbor who broke the bad news to me. At first, I thought that he had died but when I reached the health center where he had been admitted, I realized that he had lost all the buttocks,” Katusiime said.

She appealed to the government to ensure that people neighboring the protected areas are guarded from the beasts which also attack their crops and destroy them.

“We have a very big challenge here as neighbors to the protected area because the animals attack us,” Katusiime said.

By Wilson Asiimwe, The New Vision