The fishermen in Buikwe district have called upon the government to  remove a hippo that has made their lives hard and fishing activities come to a standstill for fear of losing their lives.

This comes after a hippopotamus left one fisherman dead and two others with injuries at the Namazina landing site in Ngogwe sub-county on April 5, 2024, at around 4:30 a.m.

According to the deceased’s brother, Juma Kasozi, the two fishermen and his brother went to Kinyambogo to fish in the wee hours of the morning but were attacked by the hippopotamus.

He said it hit the boat they were in and overturned, hence leading to their drowning. He further said the boat overturned, and the three drowning fishermen screamed for help, which the other fishermen at the shores did but were disrupted by the hippopotamus.

‘’When the rescue team went to help the three drowning fishermen, it became too aggressive and chased them up to the shores, hence making the rescue process hard, and by the time they went back to get my brother, he was dead,’’ Kasozi narrated.

He added that the fishermen at the Namazima landing site are living in fear because the hippopotamus has spent a month in the water and has disrupted their fishing activities, which is affecting their source of income and livelihood too.

Locals called on the government to intervene because they do not know where the hippopotamus came from, and they can neither fish nor fetch water from the lake because they are scared of being killed by the hippopotamus.