Kidnappers Planned to Force a 12-Year-Old Girl into Marriage. A Pride of Lions Came To Her Rescue
The young girl was kidnapped while walking home from school and was missing for a week
A pride of lions rescued the girl from her captors and "stood guard"
Find out how the girl's actions likely drew the lions' attentionIt's been 20 years since an Ethiopian 'miracle,' but it's still no less astonishing today.
In June 2005, a 12-year-old girl who had been kidnapped, beaten and missing for a week was found alive after three lions in Ethiopia chased off the captors and protected her.
Reports claim that the girl was taken by a group of seven men who sought to force her into marriage.
"They stood guard until we found her and then they just left her like a gift and went back into the forest," Sergeant Wondimu Wendaju told NBC News of the pride's actions afterward. "If the lions had not come then it could have been much worse. Often these young girls are raped and severely beaten to force them to accept the marriage.'
The girl was "shocked and terrified" and had to be treated for cuts from the beatings, Wendaju said.
Reports at the time indicated the girl was kidnapped while walking home from school and was soon after held captive in a remote location. At some point, however, the men, with the girl in tow, attempted to move down a dusty trail through the outskirts of Bita Genet, about 350 miles from the country's capital, Addis Ababa. The sounds of the movements and the weeping of a scared girl likely alerted the pride of lions.
In fact, wildlife expert Stuart Williams told NBC that the girl likely stayed alive because she cried.
'A young girl whimpering could be mistaken for the mewing sound from a lion cub, which in turn could explain why they didn't eat her,' he said.
Wendaju added, 'Everyone thinks this is some kind of miracle, because normally the lions would attack people.'
Ethiopia's lions are rather revered in Ethiopia, and are the country's national symbol, adorning statues and the local currency. Famous for their large black manes, Ethiopian Lions are highly endangered, as it's believed that only a few hundred are alive today, according to LionAid, a lion conservation and education charity.
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