{"id":2190399,"date":"2026-03-16T06:00:47","date_gmt":"2026-03-16T05:00:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/?p=2190399"},"modified":"2026-03-13T13:11:58","modified_gmt":"2026-03-13T12:11:58","slug":"huge-carnivores-are-roaming-the-streets-of-this-ethiopian-city-what-theyre-doing-could-be-saving-people-100000-usd-per-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/huge-carnivores-are-roaming-the-streets-of-this-ethiopian-city-what-theyre-doing-could-be-saving-people-100000-usd-per-year\/","title":{"rendered":"Huge carnivores are roaming the streets of this Ethiopian city. What they’re doing could be saving people $100,000 USD per year"},"content":{"rendered":"

Climate change has an unlikely new ally. In Ethiopia, urban scavengers, such as hyenas and hooded vultures, are preventing over a thousand tonnes of carbon emissions every year, just by eating rotten meat. The findings are reported in\u00a0Ecological Solutions and Evidence<\/em>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Scavenging\u00a0animals are a common feature of large Ethiopian cities, where they live in the shadows and eat what they can. \u201cAnimals like spotted hyenas have adapted to a high-density, urban environment and have become an essential part of the city\u2019s ecosystem,\u201d says\u00a0Gidey Yirga from the University of Sheffield.<\/p>\n

This is true of the country\u2019s second largest city, Mekelle. Every year the 660,000 residents collectively slaughter over a million chickens, goats and sheep for food, then chuck away the leftovers. Two thirds of this organic waste is dumped at roadsides and other open sites, where it decomposes and releases greenhouse gases, such as methane and carbon dioxide, into the atmosphere.<\/p>\n

When they feed on food waste, scavengers help to lock this carbon away. To estimate how much of an effect this has on climate change, Gidey and colleagues interviewed 409 randomly selected households then extrapolated their data to the entire city.<\/p>\n

The researchers found that the city generates around 1,240 metric tonnes of meat waste every year \u2013 equivalent to the total weight of roughly 31,000 live sheep.\u00a0Spotted hyenas, stray dogs and African wolves scarf about half of this. Together, the animals prevent the release of an estimated 1,063 metric tonnes of carbon emissions annually and save the waste disposal sector around $100,000 USD per year.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt a time when cities across the world are struggling with waste and climate goals, we\u2019ve found that scavengers are providing essential ecosystem services while significantly reducing potentially catastrophic sanitation risks,\u201d says Yirga.<\/p>\n

Scavengers don\u2019t tend to be popular. Lots of people don\u2019t like them, because of threats that are real and imagined. In this study however, many interviewees said that they were happy to live alongside the animals peacefully. \u201cAlthough hyenas are often among the most persecuted species in Africa, in our study area, they are considered ecologically important,\u201d the authors write. \u201cThis creates a unique case of co-existence between wildlife and people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now, the researchers hope that this tolerance will spread. If it does, the model could be applied to other Ethiopian cities and African states where organic waste is routinely dumped at road sides.<\/p>\n

Tis article<\/a> was first published by Discover Wildlife on 12 March 2026. Lead Image:\u00a0Michael J. Cohen\/Getty Images.<\/em><\/p>\n

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