Lions Free Kidnapped Girl

[mactastic]

This is a truly remarkable story.

Police say three lions rescued a 12-year-old girl kidnapped by men who wanted to force her into marriage, chasing off her abductors and guarding her until police and relatives tracked her down in a remote corner of Ethiopia.

The men had held the girl for seven days, repeatedly beating her, before the lions chased them away and guarded her for half a day before her family and police found her, Sgt. Wondimu Wedajo said Tuesday by telephone from the provincial capital of Bita Genet, some 560 kilometers (348 miles) west of the capital, Addis Ababa.

"They stood guard until we found her and then they just left her like a gift and went back into the forest," Wondimu said, adding he did not know whether the lions were male or female.

 

[mcarnes]

In Ethiopia, kidnapping has long been part of the marriage custom, a tradition of sorrow and violence whose origins are murky.

The United Nations estimates that more than 70 percent of marriages in Ethiopia are by abduction, practiced in rural areas where the majority of the country's 71 million people live.

 

[wdlove]

It's very sad to hear that she was originally kidnapped and beaten.

Still nice to hear some good news for the ending of this story.

"A young girl whimpering could be mistaken for the mewing sound from a lion cub, which in turn could explain why they (the lions) didn't eat her," Williams said. "Otherwise they probably would have done."

I'm surprised that they weren't able to ascertain if the lions were male or female. It certainly sounds as though they were female by there actions. A very lucky young lady indeed. I pray that after medial attention she will be alright.

 

[mactastic]

Yeah, and what does it say about people that the animals who should have been natural predators were nicer than hew own species was to her?

 

[xli_ne]

didn't know if they were male or female? don't males have the big ass mane of hair and the females don't?

 

[friarbayliff]

That was a really interesting story - I saw it on CNN earlier today. The sad thing really is that this sort of thing is a regular occurrence in that culture. Some advocate the preservation and respect of other cultures - but I think it's basically a poor excuse and a bad habit.

 

[Flynnstone]

I wonder if one lion stayed and guarded while the others chased and got well fed

 

[emw]

didn't know if they were male or female? don't males have the big ass mane of hair and the females don't?

Adult males do, but I believe younger males would not. However, I would think that adolescent male lions would have been fairly unlikely to guard the child rather than eat her.

Edit: Or, I suppose, it could have been these

 

[mcarnes]

The sad thing really is that this sort of thing is a regular occurrence in that culture. Some advocate the preservation and respect of other cultures - but I think it's basically a poor excuse and a bad habit.

Agreed. Any violence hiding behind culture preservation is a very poor excuse indeed.

 

[mcarnes]

Or, I suppose, it could have been these

Rogaine for felines.

 

[mac-er]

Amazing. Truly shows the natural instincts of animals.

 

[FriarTuck]

I wonder if they are related to the lion that killed dozens of little people ?

I think the "lions guard girl" story will turn out to be as real as the story I linked to.

 

[840quadra]

this hits close to home. I had a dog protect me once when I was a kid, I later found out the person this stray dog was protecting me from was once arrested for kidnapping!! The dog turned out to be rabid, and possibly didn't se me as a threat because of my size (i was 6 or 7) and the man was quite tall. But I still think to this day that the dog was out to protect me that day, as I doubt if it hated people, and or was rabid, that it would have let me pet it before this incident occurred.

Animals are more intelligent then we give them credit for, who is to say the lyons didn't know what they were doing?

 

[AoWolf]

Thats pretty cool that the lions saved her. Kind of like those dolphins that protected the lifeguards from sharks in New Zealand. Link

 

[craigdawg]

How bad would that suck to survive being beaten for some arranged marriage you want no part of only to be eaten by lions. The worst day of my life, what do you think?

 

[mcarnes]

Thats pretty cool that the lions saved her. Kind of like those dolphins that protected the lifeguards from sharks in New Zealand. Link

Mmmmmm... dolphin. A little garlic, and little cayenne, good eatin'

 

[tech4all]

Thats pretty cool that the lions saved her. Kind of like those dolphins that protected the lifeguards from sharks in New Zealand. Link

Thanks for the link. Both stories are truly amazing and heart-touching. It's nice to see animals protecting humans

 

[CorvusCamenarum]

I'm surprised that they weren't able to ascertain if the lions were male or female. It certainly sounds as though they were female by there actions. A very lucky young lady indeed. I pray that after medial attention she will be alright.

More than likely they were female. I saw this article on CNN, and given that my knowledge of things like this is equivalent to a moldy turnip, I looked up a friend of mine who is currently doing her graduate work in biology. According to her, female lions practice what is called "cooperative breeding". If I understood her correctly, it doesn't matter which lionness gave birth to the cub, all of them in the pride will collectively raise them. That being said, as the article said the poor girl was making sounds equivalent to a cub in danger/distress, all of them would protect her. On the flip side, if they were male lions, they probably would have killed her when they didn't recognize her as a cub they fathered.