JUBA — The rare appearance of a hyena roaming the streets of South Sudan’s capital has sparked widespread shock online and prompted a strict warning from wildlife officials regarding the illegal keeping of dangerous animals.
Residents were left stunned after a video circulated widely on social media showing a hyena walking along Juba’s busy Airport Road. While wildlife encounters are relatively common in the rural outskirts of the country, seeing a large predator in the heart of the capital city is an exceedingly rare and alarming event for local citizens.
Investigating the incident, media sources revealed that the hyena did not wander in from the wild, but was allegedly being kept as a pet by an anonymous individual.
A specialized team from the Ministry of Wildlife Conservation and Tourism quickly deployed to the area and successfully captured the animal without incident. Officials confirmed that the hyena is currently in secure custody, where it will undergo a full medical screening before a technical team safely relocates it back to a designated protected area.
In the wake of the public scare, the Ministry issued a stern warning against the illegal domestication of wild predators. Keeping carnivorous animals as pets is strictly forbidden under South Sudanese law. Officials urged the public to remain calm, stop spreading rumors, and warned that anyone caught harboring wild animals in the future will face severe legal consequences under the country’s updated wildlife protection laws.