Reading this, I have to wonder if a bit of this was just some sort of mass hysteria / group insanity. No one has ever answered the quesion of where a lion would have come from; they don't run wild in the English woods, like the urban myths of alligators in the New York City sewers.From the Express:
ARMED POLICE, HELICOPTERS AND A VILLAGE IN FEAR OVER 'LION' THAT'S REALLY A PET CAT
ARMED police were left, well, feline embarrassed last night after spending 24 hours hunting an “escaped lion” that turned out to be nothing more than a cat.
Frightened residents of St Osyth were warned to beware and police marksmen patrolled neighbouring fields as two helicopters hovered overhead.
But the drama came to an end when photographs revealed the “Essex Lion” to be a domestic cat lapping up the attention.
Meanwhile, grainy snaps of a male lion prowling around a suburban street circulating on Twitter were exposed as fakes.
An Essex Police spokesman said:
“We believe what was seen on Sunday evening was either a large domestic cat or a wildcat.
“Extensive searches have been carried out, areas examined and witnesses spoken to, yet nothing has been found to suggest that a lion was in the area.
“We would like to thank the local community and holidaymakers for their patience and support throughout the past 24 hours as the police and media presence would have been somewhat overwhelming for them.”
The scare began on Sunday evening after witnesses saw the prowling beast in a field at Earl’s Hall Farm.
Denise Martin, 52, a warehouse operative, was one of several people who took pictures from the window of her caravan on the site.
Mrs Martin, on a Bank Holiday weekend break from her home in Canvey Island, said:
“I was looking out of the window and we saw smoke. When it cleared I could see this shape in the field, so I got the binoculars out. We had a look and it looked like a lion.”
Farmer Roger Lord said:
“The first thing we knew about it was a phone call from the police.
“They have taken it very seriously and have put two helicopters up in the air and I don’t know how many armed police that we still have on site now.”
Rich Baker, 39, who was walking with his two sons, aged nine and 11, said:
“A man started running towards us yelling ‘It’s a lion!’ He looked so panicked you knew it was not a joke.”
Van driver Mr Baker, from Romford, added:
“I grabbed my children’s hands and we ran towards our caravan. My children started to scream, ‘Daddy, is the
lion going to get us?’
“It was one million per cent a lion. It was a tan colour with a big mane, it was fully grown. It was definitely a lion. It seemed to be standing there enjoying itself.
"There were a dozen or so people who saw it. “
Che Kevlin, 40, said: “I was sitting with my wife in the front room playing backgammon at around 10pm when I heard this very loud roar. It was incredibly odd to hear something like that at that time of night.”
Rumours circulated that the animal could have escaped from a circus that had been performing nearby earlier this month.
Armed police were scrambled and an expert from Colchester Zoo was called in to advise officers on how to deal with the potential maneater.
But when photographs of the big cat were examined by police, it became obvious that it was a ginger domestic cat with a white bib.
Although police said their primary concern had been public safety, some residents were still sceptical about the stand-down.
Mandy Thomson, 42, said:
“Let’s hope the police have not left us too soon as it all felt very real when they were hunting for it last night.”
Driver Kieran Bourne claimed yesterday that he saw a panther on the loose in the Cotswolds.
Mr Bourne, 30, said he almost ran over the animal when it appeared in his headlights on Cleeve Hill in the early hours.
The 30-year-old, who reported the sighting to a big cat expert, said:
“I’m now 100 per cent sure it was a big black cat, with no markings on. It’s out there.”
No comments:
Post a Comment