Lad, 15, is savaged by a wild hyena while sleeping in a tent in the Kruger National Park
Teenager undergoing surgery to reconstruct his face after savage animal attack
A TEENAGE boy had his bones “crushed like a packet of crisps” after being attacked by a hyena as he slept in a tent on a family camping trip yesterday.
Erco Janse van Rensburg described the sound of his own bones being crunched by the predator after it launched the pre-dawn attack on him in South Africa’s Kruger National Park in the early hours of Sunday morning.
According to the savage assault by the animal only came to an end when the 15 year-old’s uncle was woken by the sound of the boy being “dragged like a blanket” past his own tent and rushed to his aid by chasing the hyena away.
The teenager is understood to now be recovering in hospital in Johannesburg after undergoing multiple surgeries to reconstruct his face.
Rangers at the world-famous safari park are now hunting the hyena which squeezed through a hole in the fence which was meant to secure the camp site where Erco and his family were staying.
His grandfather Basie Smalberger, 67, told the website how his grandson was spending the night alone in a tented annex of a trailer where his parents, Erno and Cashandra, and two sisters slept.
He said: “Erco’s uncle and family were sleeping in another tent next door and the hyena was completely silent when he grabbed Erco because it was only when he started pulling him across the ground by the collar of his pyjama top, that Johann woke up and looked out of his own tent to see what a thought was a blanket being dragged very fast across the ground.
“Johann went to investigate what was happening and then saw the hyena on top of Erco and managed to chase it away.
“Erco was conscious throughout the attack and then was able to describe how he heard the sound of his own bones being crushed ‘like a packet of chips’ as the hyena climbed on him.”
Erco, from Centurion, near the capital Pretoria, was rushed to a hospital outside the Kruger Park for emergency treatment, and then airlifted for specialist care in Johannesburg.
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A spokesman for the park, William Mabasa, told MailOnline: “Our rangers are looking for the hyena, but the problem is that we cannot be sure which animal was responsible for this attack.”
Mr Mabasa added that the hole in the fence at Crocodile Bridge Camp, probably made by a warthog or hyena, has now been fixed.
Hyenas are among the world’s most dangerous predators – their jaws are as a powerful as a Great White Shark.
Yesterday morning’s shock attack is not the first in the country’s history.
A 13 year-old boy also suffered severe injuries to his face and head in 2011 when a hyena attacked him as he slept at Imfolozi Game Reserve near Durban.
While in Kenya in 2012 a pack of hyenas attacked a family as they slept - killing two children and seriously injuring six others.
In Ethiopia it is said packs of hyena have left the hills around Addis Ababa and moved into the city to prey upon the homeless.
They are notorious for consuming every bit of their prey - bones included.
Animal behaviourist Kevin Richardson told South Africa’s Times Live website that said hyenas in the Kruger Park are notorious for frequenting the rest camp sites because people feed them.
He said: "Hyenas are smart and see camp sites as sources of food."
Mr Smalberger said Erco was still being treated in the intensive care unit, but was unable to speak following delicate surgery to reconstruct his jaw.
He added: "He seems to be in quite good spirits considering what an horrific experience he has had.
"He can communicate with us by nodding his head. My daughter Cashandra is with him and the whole experience has been as hard on the boy’s parents."
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