Kidnapping young girls has long been a part of the marriage custom in Ethiopia.
According to the UN, as much as 70% of the women in the country get married by force, often through abduction. The high percentage, however, doesn’t make things either right or legal.
In 2005, one 12-year-old girl from Ethiopia was kidnapped by seven men who intended to force her into marriage.
©YouTube Screenshot | Beyond Science
According to the police, however, the girl was saved by three lions who protected her until the cops arrived at the scene.
Apparently, the girl had been missing for a week before the police got to her. In the meanwhile, three lions found her and scared the kidnappers away. One of the abductors was forcing the girl to marry him.
Experts suggest that the lions probably intervened because she was clearly in distress and crying loudly as her abductors were beating her.
The girl was found by the police and her relatives one week after her disappearance in Kefa Zone, southwestern Ethiopia. The lions stayed with her until the rescuers showed up.
“They stood guard until we found her and then they just left her like a gift and went back into the forest,” Sgt. Wondimu Wedajo from the provincial capital of Bita Genet said. “Everyone thinks this is some kind of miracle, because normally the lions would attack people.”
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“If the lions had not come to her rescue, then it could have been much worse. Often these young girls are raped and severely beaten to force them to accept the marriage.”
After the incident, Tilahun Kassa, a local government official, confirmed the story and the fact that one of the abductors was planning to marry the girl forcefully.
©YouTube Screenshot | Beyond Science
“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,” Wildlife expert Stuart Williams said.
He also explained that the Ethiopian lions are the country’s national symbol and that they often get hunted by poachers for their skin. Stuart estimates that there are only around 1,000 Ethiopian lions still alive in the wild.
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