The issue of targeting striped hyenas has resurfaced in Libya , after a new video circulated on social media documenting a citizen hunting a hyena and torturing it along with others, claiming that it posed a threat to humans and flocks of sheep and goats.
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Months earlier, another video had circulated showing the torture of a striped hyena before its killing. This video sparked widespread criticism last April, but these criticisms were not enough to prompt official action and public awareness to prevent such harmful behaviors that disrupt the ecological balance.
Social media was abuzz with the spread of the new video a few days ago, filled with scathing criticism of such actions, which the majority saw as unjustified, describing them as "fake heroics" that some people think they have achieved when they catch an animal like this and hold a torture party for it, not caring that it represents a national treasure that is prohibited from being harmed or neglected due to its environmental importance.
On the other hand, a few believe that this animal poses a danger to humans and to the livestock of citizens, and that they have the right to get rid of it in order to protect themselves and the animals they own.
He says, "This animal is characterized by its cautious behavior and tendency to avoid humans, and no cases of it attacking humans have ever been recorded. However, the information that it attacks humans has been common among some people for a long time, and it is invoked to justify such behavior."
Ajaj, on the other hand, does not deny that there has been a change in the behavior of this animal, which drives it on rare occasions to leave its habitats in the Green Mountain, which includes deep valleys, caves and rocky slopes suitable for living and breeding, so that it gets closer to human settlements. He said: “Humans are the ones who cause these behaviors by their excessive hunting of prey from wildlife, which used to be food for it, such as rabbits, and with the scarcity of food, it is forced to leave its main habitats to get closer to human settlements.”
A study conducted in the Cyrenaica region of northeastern Libya, and published in a journal, indicates that rabbits are among the most important prey whose presence in the Green Mountain is linked to the continued presence of the striped hyena in its habitats, and with their scarcity due to overhunting, the striped hyena may be forced to change its diet.
This is supported by a study conducted in Tanzania and published in the Journal of Animal Ecology, in which researchers compared data from two periods separated by about three decades, and found that when the numbers of some main prey declined and the number of buffalo increased, hyenas changed their hunting behavior, hunting more buffalo calves and adult zebras, and also benefiting more from the carcasses they obtained from lions.
However, Ahmed emphasizes that the striped hyena's need to leave its habitat in search of food does not justify killing, hunting, and then torturing it, because it does not approach humans. The only danger will remain its approach to animal enclosures, which can be overcome by securing the enclosures, using guard and herding dogs, and improving herd management, instead of considering killing predators as the first solution.
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