Being ‘eaten’ by an animal:

I have a feeling that many Kenyans are more scared of being ‘eaten’ by an animal then of being run over by a motor vehicle. Let me explain.

How many times do you get to visit someone’s house in one of the leafy suburbs and the first thing that comes to your mind once you drive into their compound is if they have a dog? Next you ask the question if there is a dog in plain view, “is it kali”? Or while out walking or jogging you come across a strange dog on your path and the first thing you want to do is cross over to the other side or stop jogging altogether because we all know that a dog will ‘chase you if you are running’ as you fearfully cast your eyes over your shoulder should the dog take an unhealthy interest in you sniffing at your heels as a dog is wont to do.

Many times the size of the dog doesn’t matter and it could be the scrawniest, mangiest, scared looking mongrel but the inborn fear is still in us to fear a dog…………hell any animal. You even go off to the Masai Mara and the inevitable question when you get back is whether you were scared of being ‘eaten’ by an animal.

Seriously folks, I have seen people almost trampling each other when a horse rears up on its hind legs at the Ngong Racecourse or in the City Centre when the police are trying to quell a demonstration, or grown men almost breaking their legs running away from a snake, in all likelihood a non-venomous one at that, sunning itself 10 feet away and what of those of us who are scared of spiders, lizards, geckos and chameleons almost falling down in our haste to get away as far as possible from the offending creature…………….and possibly being run over by a vehicle for our troubles!!

We are taught and conditioned from a very early age that any animal, wild or domestic, has the potential to do serious harm to you, and past experiences are shared with wanton abandon by our parents, aunties and uncles of being mauled by a dog, kicked by a cow, chased by a bull, butted by a goat etc in their youthful day and this is the reality that we face each day. The fact that corpses in many societies in Kenya in days gone by were left in the forest to be devoured by wild animals does not in any way reduce the believability of being ‘eaten’ by animals. Further, recent stories of a baby being half devoured by dogs soon after birth, or lions attacking a Manyatta and eating the livestock and leopards stalking and killing goats, dogs and other domestic animals means that being 'eaten' by animals is the worst nightmare for many.

If only we were also told of the dangers of dicing with death while walking on the road verge and not on the shoulder, crossing a road while the pedestrian lights are red, dashing across Thika Road or any other major highway with scores of hulking metal vehicles hurtling past at breakneck speeds inches from you so as to avoid a 50 meter walk to the pedestrian overpass and its relative safety we would surely be a saner, less suicidal society! Maybe it’s time we thought of policing our roads and highways with animals that would scare the living daylights out of us lest we get ‘eaten’.