Spotting any wild animal near your home will kick the living daylight out of you, let alone a ferocious lion hiding in a bush, ready to prowl. Naturally, it set alarms off when someone saw one such wildcat in Kenya. However, the forest department responding to the call found it to be nothing but a shopping bag!
Yes, as bizarre as it may sound, the photos shared by the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) show why the scene caused panic among locals. The uncanny resemblance of the photo printed on the bag to that of a wild lioness is riveting. Sharing the peculiar event, the agency revealed that it had received numerous reports from locals at Kiangua, Meru County of the animal “hiding in a hedge”.
KWS team in Meru naturally rushed to the scene to prevent any possibility of a man-animal conflict. “On arrival, KWS rangers were astonished to find out that the ‘alleged lion’ was a lion printed carrier bag,” the agency wrote.
And the order was restored realising it was not a lost animal but a bag. As they directed the public to the nearest national park to witness animals in their natural settings, they also tagged the company, Carrefour Kenya, behind the bag to “discuss”.
According to BBC Africa, a farmhand in Kinyana village, just a kilometre from the Mt Kenya National park, raised the alarm after spotting what he thought was a lion just outside his employer’s home. Interestingly, the now-viral lion bag had been placed in the hedge by the homeowner, with some avocado tree seedlings wanting to stop them drying out.
Local chief Cyrus Mbijiwe told the BBC that although there had been no recent reports of lions straying into the residential area in the location in recent times, residents had complained that some of their livestock had gone missing.
The report added that the homeowner was not at the property when the wildlife officials were alerted. Although it was hilarious, the agency thanked the public for alerting them despite this being a false alarm.
People on social media could not get enough of the funny incident and many flocked to the comment section of the departmental chain to inquire where they can find the real-looking lion bag.
