The Kenya Wildlife Service received numerous reports of a lion hiding in a hedge outside a home in Meru County and dispatched three armed wildlife officers to the scene to handle a possible Human Wildlife Conflict case.
They cautiously approached the homestead where the lion had been spotted and immediately relaxed when they discovered the feline that was causing alarm in Kiangua, just east of Mount Kenya National Park.
That’s because the lion was actually a shopping bag with a realistic image of a lion’s head on it, as reported by the BBC and the Kenya Wildlife Service.
“We treated the incident with a lot of caution and seriousness,” local chief Cyrus Mbijiwe told the BBC. “We first ensured everyone was safe then wildlife officials investigated and discovered that it was a bag.”
Mbijiwe said there hadn’t been any sightings of stray lions in the area, but residents complained that some of their livestock had gone missing.
From the BBC:
The bag had been placed in the hedge by the home owner, who had put some avocado tree seedlings in it and wanted to stop them drying out…
The homestead owner was away when the wildlife wardens were called. When she arrived back home, she was told about the lion and was advised to enter her house through the door on the opposite side of the building from the hedge, so she didn’t immediately connect the report with the bag containing her seedlings.
“Despite this being a false alarm, we laud the public for raising an alarm in order to mitigate a possible conflict,” the KWS stated on Facebook.
Photos courtesy of the Kenya Wildlife Service.
