After Islamic State, Fallujah finds new threat in honey badgers
An Iraqi holds a dead honey badger in Anbar
Fallujah (IraqiNews.com) People in Fallujah, Anbar province, are increasingly alarmed with attacks by honey badgers which have recently caused deaths and serious injuries to several people.
Kurdish-owned BasNews said the rare animal has spread in the areas of Nassaf, Bu Alwan, Mahamda and Saqlawiya, northwest of Fallujah.
Bu Alwan police officer Ahmed al-Dulaimi told the website that the animal has recently attacked a woman and her child in al-Nassaf, killing the woman and rendering the child in a critical condition.
“It is one of the most dangerous beasts of prey, even a lion would be afraid to counter it due to its extremely sharp claws,” as the officer put it.
Khamis al-Mohammadi, a tribal chief at Mahamda region, told the website that honey badgers appeared early 2006 when U.S. forces stationed at the Habbaniya base and Hadana airport, east of the city of Ramadi. “We never knew it existed until U.S. forces entered,” he said.
“That animal was entirely eliminated in 2010, and we never saw it again until this year, especially at farmlands that were occupied by Islamic State terrorists and which remained mysterious until they were recaptured.”
According to Mohammadi, honey badgers, which he said have spread panic among locals, only move during the night, and sneak into farmlands and unfenced residences.
Adel Abdullah al-Azzami, a resident of one of the affected areas, believes honey badgers are “much more dangerous that a wolf”. “It digs very deep holes in the ground…..it mates rapidly and there are several holes near the Euphrates river in Saqlawiya that have been searched”.
Azzami added that the searches reached two young badgers that were killed Tuesday morning. He urged to form civilian groups to watch over residential areas at night, and to light fire near poultry and cattle barns to repel the animal.
BasNews says that though badgers had been killed in large numbers in Ramadi, they remain a threat that obliges residents to carry weapons when going out during the night. It pointed out a belief that the reason badgers began to target humans is the diminishing numbers of preys on which they fed, especially mammals.