http://www.startribune.com/stories/484/5468578.html

Lions reportedly chase off abductors, guard girl til police find her
Associated Press
June 21, 2005 LIONS0622

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia — A 12-year-old girl who was abducted and beaten by men trying to force her into a marriage was found being guarded by three lions who apparently had chased off her captors, a policeman said Tuesday.

The girl, missing for a week, had been taken by seven men who wanted to force her to marry one of them, said Sgt. Wondimu Wedajo, speaking by telephone from the provincial capital of Bita Genet, about 350 miles southwest of Addis Ababa.

She was beaten repeatedly before she was found June 9 by police and relatives on the outskirts of Bita Genet, Wondimu said. She had been guarded by the lions for about half a day, he said.

"They stood guard until we found her and then they just left her like a gift and went back into the forest,'' Wondimu said.

"If the lions had not come to her rescue, then it could have been much worse. Often these young girls are raped and severely beaten to force them to accept the marriage,'' he said.

Tilahun Kassa, a local government official who corroborated Wondimu's version of the events, said one of the men had wanted to marry the girl against her wishes.

"Everyone thinks this is some kind of miracle, because normally the lions would attack people,'' Wondimu said.

Stuart Williams, a wildlife expert with the rural development ministry, said the girl may have survived because she was crying from the trauma of her attack.

"A young girl whimpering could be mistaken for the mewing sound from a lion cub, which in turn could explain why they didn't eat her,'' Williams said.

Ethiopia's lions, famous for their large black manes, are the country's national symbol and adorn statues and the local currency. Despite a recent crackdown, Hunters also kill the animals for their skins, which can fetch $1,000. Williams estimates that only 1,000 Ethiopian lions remain in the wild.

The girl, the youngest of four siblings, was "shocked and terrified'' after her abduction and had to be treated for the cuts from her beatings, Wondimu said.

He said police had caught four of the abductors and three were still at large.

Kidnapping young girls has long been part of the marriage custom in Ethiopia. The United Nations estimates that more than 70 percent of marriages in Ethiopia are by abduction, practiced in rural areas where most of the country's 71 million people live.



That's not a nice way to get somebody to marry you. What seven grown men sit around and plan to abduct a twelve year old girl? Why couldn't the lions have eaten them?

wow thats intense.

reminds me that movie...Second Handed Lion i guess

lions rock.

animals acting more humane than humans... what's the world coming to

The word "humane" is the biggest fucking joke that man ever played upon himself.

this is so true

This huge talk here in Djibouti.



I'm sorry, but I have an extremely hard time believing this, along with other random statistics that you happen to hear about in regards to the region. I'll be asking locals about this over the next few days.

i am so glad that my life has led me down a path that i never ever saw the things that make you such a bitter bitter person

I don't know about that. If I went up and tried to pet 100 wild lions, I'm sure 90% of them would maul me. If I went up to pet 100 humans, I would only get punched three times, slapped twice, and get partially mauled once. Did you get mauled the first time you tried?

So, though the meaning is slightly degraded, the word "humane" is not a TOTAL joke! ??

EXACTLY!

In a completely unrelated note, everyone I talked to about the statistic at the end today said it was bullshit. Stuff like that is rare at best in Ethiopia the local's say. Crime wise, Djibouti, Ethiopia, and Erititrea have the lowest crimes in Africa.

Lions Frickin' Rule

Men Frickin' Suck


(no offence to those men herein)

c-