According to the BBC, the dramatic incident occurred at a farmhand in Kinyana village, just a kilometre from the Mt Kenya National Park.
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Bag with lion's image on it causes fear, armed officers deployed to the scene
A shopping bag with a lion's head drawn on it caused fear among some Kenyan residents until fully armed wildlife officials arrived, only to realise that it wasn't a stray lion as the they had thought.
Shopping bag thought to be stray lion
It is reported that the officers, who were armed to the teeth, were expecting to face off with a live lion, but when they got to the scene, it was an anticlimax. The supposed lion was rather a shopping bag with a realistic image of a lion’s head drawn on it.
The report said that the bag in question had been placed in a hedge. The owner of the house had put some avocado tree seedlings in the bag directly below a window to stop them from drying out.
It is further reported that a farmhand of the homeowner was the first to spot the scary shopping bag and raised the alarm before other residents joined in.
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Shopping bag thought to be stray lion
Shopping bag thought to be stray lion
Pulse Ghana
Interestingly, when she returned home, she was advised to enter the house through the door on the opposite side of the building from the hedge to avoid being devoured by the ‘lurking lion’.
Despite the unintentional false alarm, the armed wildlife officials said they were thankful to "the public for raising an alarm in order to mitigate a possible conflict".
Sharing his thoughts on the development, local chief Cyrus Mbijiwe said although stray lions had been seen in the area in recent times, complaints of missing livestock made residents fear that the shopping bag might be a stray lion.
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Shopping bag thought to be stray lion
Shopping bag thought to be stray lion
Pulse Ghana
"We treated the incident with a lot of caution and seriousness. We first ensured everyone was safe, then wildlife officials investigated and discovered that it was a bag," the chief told the BBC.
Recently, a stray lion that was killed by Ugandan wildlife officials was skinned, shared, and eaten by residents.
They clashed with the officials, overpowering them before snatching the deadly dead carnivore.
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