Mensona
Related Articles
Panic is real, irrational panic is more so. Armed wildlife officers in Kenya have responded to reports of a ‘wandering lion’ sighting in their area. However, it turns out that there was no stray lion on the loose but a misplaced paper bag with the feline’s face on it.
The lion-printed carrier bag was left in the bushes by a resident of Kinyana village, one kilometer from Mount Kenya National Park. But a fearful farmer spotted the bag and mistook it for a wild cat on the loose, and contacted the authorities.
After sounding the alarm, wildlife officers and three rangers rushed to the village to find the ‘wandering lion’, but found a shopping bag instead.
“Upon arrival, KWS rangers were astonished to find that the ‘suspected lion’ was a lion-printed carrier bag,” Kenya Wildlife Services wrote on Twitter. Upon further investigation, they even discovered that the shopping bag belonged to a neighboring owner who had placed it in the bushes so that his avocado seedlings would not dry out in the sun.
In an interesting twist of events, we have received numerous reports from residents of Kiangua location in Meru County of a lion hiding in a hedge.
The KWS Meru team quickly rushed to the scene in an effort to mitigate a possible case of human-wildlife conflict. pic.twitter.com/K0up1GH6d6
— Kenya Wildlife Service (@kwskenya) May 5, 2022
Due to its fun nature, officers took photos of the shopping bag containing avocado seedlings. Despite cries of the wolf, the officers praised the farmer for his quick thinking and reporting the event “in order to mitigate a possible conflict”.
According to reports, the farmer’s employer was absent when authorities were contacted, reports BBC. She was informed of the sighting of a wandering lion later on her return and was advised to enter her house through a separate door. This caused her to not be able to make the connection between her seedling back and “sighting the wandering lion”.
Upon arrival, the KWS rangers were astonished to find that the “suspected lion” was a lion-printed carrier bag.
Although this is a false alarm, we commend the public for sounding the alarm to mitigate potential conflict. pic.twitter.com/spiYlpNNso
— Kenya Wildlife Service (@kwskenya) May 5, 2022
For more trending stories, follow us on Telegram.
