The hyenas of Harar: how a city fell in love with its bone-crunching carnivores

In an ancient walled city in eastern Ethiopia, the animals are fed in return for cleaning up the streets and keeping spirits at bay

• Photographs by Guillaume Petermann

The hyenas gather as night settles. The bolder animals come early and lounge around, undisturbed by the loud blare of mosques calling people to prayer. By the time Abbas Yusuf arrives, dozens lurk in the semi-darkness, pacing over shards of splintered bone and broken glass.

Abbas whistles and calls, tossing out a few chunks of meat. Then he beckons over the small group of tourists who have come to watch. They take turns feeding the hyenas from sticks, flinching and giggling as the animals tentatively grab the meat between their jaws and scuttle off.

The hyenas pounce on the meat left out for them. Their teeth and jaws are specially adapted for crushing bones