Fear and tension gripped residents of Muritibu village in Meru County after they spotted something that looked like a lion.
This occurred on Thursday and locals immediately contacted Kenya Wildlife Service to come to their rescue before the ‘lion’ could pounce any on them.
KWS officers were contacted after the area chief was notified about the harm that had come their way.
“Villagers in the sleepy Mutiribu hamlet that is about two kilometers from Mt Kenya forest thought there was a lion hiding in an hedge. The hamlet residents reported the matter to the Assistant Chief, who informed the Chief. The administrators in turn called the nearest Kenya Wildlife Service station to come and handle the animal before it could cause harm to humans and livestock. Nobody dared get near it or even take a photo,” read a Facebook post by one Eric Kathenya.
KWS officers arrived at the scene ready to tackle the king of the jungle and at first they also thought that it was an actual lion only for them to discover that it was just a carrier bag that had caused such a huge scare.
“The hamlet, in desperation, called one of its neighbors who works at KWS headquarters to help them lobby the local station to speed up before the big cat would attack them. KWS rangers turned up and prepared to capture the lion. They too were convinced it was the big cat. Then the penny dropped. It turned out the lion was a paper tiger. He he heeeeeee. It was an image on a Carrefour shopping bag,” Kathenya narrated.
KWS spokesperson Teresia Igiria confirmed to Capital news that they had been contacted over the incident.
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