Orphaned Baby Hyena Bonds With Rescued Puppy

A frightened baby hyena named Nyenyezi, who was found abandoned in a field and rescued by the Lilongwe Wildlife Trust in Malawi, discovered companionship with a rescued puppy named Wesley.

Orphaned hyena was crying out for his family… until he met a rescue puppy

Hyenas are pack animals, so his carers thought long and hard about what type of animal would work to keep Nyenyezi company as he grew.

At that age he would still stand with his family members so for him to be completely alone was really scary for him we started thinking you know what can we do for this this cub. We started looking into kind of what sort of species is a bit similar to nhyenas then that’s when we settled on a puppy.

Wesley was a bit much for Nyenyezi initially, but as they got to know each other, they formed a remarkable bond.

Wesley, being a puppy was a little bit full-on sometimes. the hyena needed a little bit of a rest.  …The pair bonded quickly and the benefits were clear: Nyenyezi stopped crying, was much calmer and was very excited to see the puppy after Wesley returned from walks. Wesley also ‘taught’ Nyenyezi how to drink from a bowl, which is how we managed to successfully transition him from bottle-feeding.

The pair had to separate as they grew older. Wesley was adopted by a loving family. Nyenyezi was introduced to Liam and Milo, the other hyenas at the sanctuary, and was fully accepted.

In there Nyenyezi went running over to the big boys. He did all the appropriate behaviors better than we could ever of hoped, so we were really grateful that Liam and Milo accepted him. He gets his own little second chance at life unfortunately for them they can’t be released at this stage just because they all have grown up in such a close proximity to humans.