CREEPY JACKALS

It was about 18 years ago, when we moved into a developing community. Beyond our house was nothing but a thick forest. We learnt the sounds of woodpeckers foraging for insects. Some days, we would get to see an African parrot perching on the electric pole. We were careful for snakes and scorpions, strange lizards and other kinds of creatures. As scary as it were  but exciting because we didn't experience such adventure while we were living in the heart of the city.
One morning, some neighbors woke up to find their livestocks dead. While others woke up to find their palm fruits (Banga) missing or partially eaten. What could have happened? No one knew. This kept on happening night after night.  It was like a plague. It seemed weird because the livestocks were taken out of the cage without it being broken.
Some of the indigenes  believed they must have offended the gods and they must offer sacrifices to appease the gods.
One afternoon, while playing outside with my siblings. We heard the voices of young men, (can't remember if women were among them). They sang some weird songs while they marched with strength. My brother got scared and ordered us to get into the house. We ran inside and he locked the door. We had to look through the window to see what was going on. I remember seeing one of them carrying a big leaveless branch  cut out from a tree.  He was someone I knew and never expected him to be a part of it.
It was obvious they were going to make sacrifices to the gods to stop the killings of their livestocks.
After making sacrifices to appease  the gods, the ordeal continued.
At the break of dawn, on stepping out of the house, I remember seeing footprints like that of a dog but obviously different. The print of the  feet pads were smaller than that of a dog. Sometimes we would see some strange dogs especially in the early hours of the morning. We made no big deal out of it.
One evening, my brother  and I went through the FirstBank calendar we had in our house. We usually go through it whenever we were bored. The calendar had pictures of animals on the page of each month. Underneath the picture was a little description of their characteristics. On this blessed day, on the month of September, the animal representing that month was a Jackal.
The description read that jackals can be found in Africa and they feed on livestocks and palm fruits.
We were struck immediately. We read it over and over again as if we were trying to let it sink in.
That's it! We exclaimed. It has been the jackals all these while. It explains the footprints and the strange dogs.
We didn't have access to the internet then to enable us learn more. But the  evidence was enough. Quickly we took our new  discovery to our mum.  She read it and she concurred.
On the next community meeting, she went with the calendar. I don't know the outcome though.
But fortunately for us, the jackals left the same way they came.