Baby mauled by baboon that sank its teeth into child’s face so could steal its doll




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A baby was almost killed by a baboon that savagely mauled her head and face as it tried to steal her doll while she played.

The one-year-old girl was with her brother, 12, outside their home in Victorian Falls, Zimbabwe, near the famous waterfall.

Jean Gama heard a piercing scream as she was making breakfast and ran outside to find the ‘usually friendly’ primate biting into her daughter’s face.

A baby was almost killed by a baboon that savagely mauled her head and face as it tried to steal her doll while she played

A baby was almost killed by a baboon that savagely mauled her head and face as it tried to steal her doll while she played

‘I hit it with a huge stone and that’s when it finally loosened its grip on her before fleeing,’ she told Zimbabwe’s The Standard.

‘Apparently the baboon wanted to take away my daughter’s doll. The baboon’s teeth penetrated her skull and I don’t know what it means for her health as she grows up.’

Ms Gama said her baby was bleeding profusely and unconscious when she rushed her to hospital over the border in Zambia where doctors had antibiotics.

She was expected to recover but the injuries would take time to heal and could leave nasty scars on the young girl.

Ms Gama said another woman was in hospital after a baboon attack as villagers complained of the animals marauding through towns.

‘We keep our windows and doors closed all the time because of the marauding baboons,’ Reuben Dube said.

Villagers complain marauding baboons are attacking people and stealing food

Villagers complain marauding baboons are attacking people and stealing food

‘They take away anything they find in the house and we no longer have gardens because they destroy our crops.’

He said parents walked their children to school every day to prevent them from being mauled or robbed of their food by baboons.

Locals said they complained to Zimbabwe National Parks and Wildlife Management Authority but they blamed the primate influx on people feeding them.

‘There is nothing much that we can do because they will be moving in their corridors. Residents must take safety measures while we do our part,’ it said.