A mom recently shared a terrifying experience when a baboon snatched her 18-month-old son.
Petronella Moyo was cleaning her house in West Nicholson in Zimbabwe on November 16 when the baboon sneaked in, bit the baby’s buttocks, and dragged him away.
“I was scrubbing the floor in the bedroom and the child was playing near the door. Suddenly I heard the baby screaming and when I turned to check what was happening I saw the baboon already dragging him,” Moyo recounted to Voice of America’s Studio 7.
She courageously chased after the baboon until it released her baby.
“I started chasing after it until it let go of him. The wound is very deep,” she disclosed.
“The verandah for my house is quite high and when I saw the baboon jump over with him, I feared the worst. I thought he was dead,” she said.
Fortunately, the baby is expected to fully recover at Gwanda Provincial Hospital.
Baboon attacks on humans are extremely rare, typically occurring when humans corner the animals.
Baboons possess sharp teeth and claws that can cause severe injuries or even be fatal.
In a rare and tragic incident in June 2003 in the remote North West village of Madipelesa outside Pampierstad in South Africa, a baboon snatched and fatally attacked a three-month-old.
Lettie Goitsimang Tukane, the mother, witnessed the horrifying event as the baboon climbed a telephone pole, ate the baby’s brain, and then disappeared into the bushes.
Tukane explained that her son Neo was asleep in one room while she was washing dishes in another when she heard his screams.
Rushing outside, she saw the baboon carrying Neo and attempting to attack her. Tukane attributed the incident to witchcraft.