Jenin residents fend off hyenas

Residents of the West Bank city of Jenin fended off an attack by a group of wild hyenas Tuesday night, Palestinian media reported.

Eyewitnesses said that the pack descended on the Al-Sharqi neighborhood and were walking between the houses and around the local cemetery when they were spotted by locals who gathered to fend off the animals.

They managed to kill one and injure a second before the remainder fled, the reports said.

Striped hyenas can be found throughout the Middle East and North Africa but are classified as endangered in Israel.

Last July, a group of Palestinians from the Hebron area filmed themselves killing a hyena they found at the side of the road.

The incident, which was posted online, depicted the animal cornered by locals who then stoned it to death.

Following Tuesdays incident, residents called on the relevant parties to help prevent wild animals, including, recently, wild boars, from entering the neighborhood.

They mentioned that such animals tend to enter the neighborhood mainly in the night via the south and pose a serious danger to residents.