HYENA PEOPLE. BtVS Demons/Monsters/Villains.
Humans possessed by the spirits of hyenas.
Hyena people appear in “The Pack,” which focuses on the link between animal predators and human bullies. A zookeeper says hyenas “prey on the weak.” Giles uses the same words to describe teenage cruelty. The possession requires a symbol and a predatory act. On a school trip to the zoo, four bullies, Kyle, Rhonda, Tor and Heidi, are affected because they are persecuting their victim, Lance, on a painted symbol beside the cordoned off hyena pen, and Xander is affected because he has hunted the bullies down in Lance’s defense.
As Buffy is figuring out the situation, Giles explains that the Masai of the Serengeti spoke of animal possession.
GILES: Apparently there’s a sect of animal worshippers known as primals. They believe that humanity, consciousness, the soul, is a perversion, a dilution of spirit. To them the animal state is holy. They’re able, through trans-possession, to draw the spirits of certain animals into themselves.
BUFFY: And then they start acting like hyenas.
GILES: Well, only the most predatory of animals are of interest to primals, so, yes, that would fit.
The possession exaggerates basic desires and brings on aggression. The hyena people eat the school mascot pig. Xander sexually preys on Buffy, who fights him off, while the others eat Principal Flutie.
The four bullies rest and then seek out Xander. The zookeeper points out that a pack of hyenas finds any member that has become separated. In a group they are stronger than as individuals. This echoes the way in which the bullies normally operate in a group.
The zookeeper does not consider the power derived from being a pack member when he casts a spell that transfers the hyena spirit from the five possessed youngsters into him, so Buffy is able to attack and defeat him without much difficulty. He falls into the pen, where the hyena pack eats him.