Wednesday, June 22, 2005 - Page updated at 12:00 AM Lions step in to help abducted Ethiopian girl By ANTHONY MITCHELL The Associated Press 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 that apparently had chased off her captors, a policeman said yesterday. 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. Click Here 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. The United Nations estimates that more than 70 percent of marriages in Ethiopia are by abduction. Copyright © 2005 The Seattle Times Company -------------------------------------------- That's pretty crazy.
Yeah I'm not even sure if you read the article... I think it's pretty amazing...must be one special girl. Woulda' been nice if the lions chased down the men and ate them or something...sicko's.
I remember reading about a man who had fallen overboard in the middle of the ocean and a sea turtle swam underneath him, allowed the man to grab on and then swam him hundreds of miles to land. Animals can be amazing.
Don't forget those dolphins fending off the sharks last year and saving a small pod of humans for a few hours.
A lot of interesting news coming out of Africa in the last 24hrs...first the toung grabbing grandpa, and now this!
It's sick that marriage abductions are the norm and not the anamoly. It'll be a long time before the US considers the thought of liberal intervention again.
Possibly but predators will sometimes keep a small or wounded animal alive for awhile so their cubs can kill them to learn how to hunt.
Yet we keep on killing them and destroying their environment. Its a good thing sea turtles, dolphins and lions don't read National Geographic or have a sense of irony otherwise if they saw a human in trouble they would probably sit back and taunt them with, "Hey I would save you but I'm too busy untangling myself from this gill net and hacking up that plastic bag that I accidently ate thinking it was a jellyfish."
Wow. Reminds me of the Narnia series. Aslan (in trinity form) steps in and saves the day. Speaking of which, I'm excited about the new Lion, Witch, and Wardrobe movie. I'll have to go back and re-read the book before I see it. I'm glad the girl's okay. Given how screwed up this world can be, I sometimes wonder whether it's worth sticking around.
