It's about a month too soon to start making a BFD about being a Leo, but i can't resist a good animal rescue story any time of year. You may have heard about it - three lions interrupted seven men beating a 12-year-old girl they had abducted to force into marriage. i chose Jason Miller's piece as the first link on this subject because he points out :
The United Nations estimates that over 70% of Ethiopian marriages are the result of the abduction and beating method, still widely practiced in the rural areas.
Seventy percent. Just in case you might feel like your life sucks today, consider that you could have been born an Ethiopian girl.
A more fun, or at least not so sad, aspect of this story is looking at how papers and websites around the world spun this pretty bare bones AP/AFP story. the BBC gave its usual comprehensive all, including pictures (though none exist of the actual lions, who cheezedit when the cops showed). Adopting a more skeptical tone than other sources, they included a quote from a game hunter who speculated that the lions were just about to eat her. Um, dude, a 12-year-old who's been kidnapped and held for a week and badly beaten isn't much of a challenge. If they took her from the men for food, she would have been just that. Instead, they guarded her for at least half a day, according to the Hindustan Times, which is as usually as credulous as the BBC is prosaic. Mexico's El Diario has a well rounded piece with a little info on Ethiopian lions. The Quiet Woman at HalifaxLive has a good opinion piece here.
And then Mike Rudas emailed me the 10 ft. liger story. You may know that there really are ligers. Maybe you knew they have skills in magic. But did you know they are HUGE? If you're sick of lions, ligers, and me, perhaps you should check out the Anti-Liger Alliance. Peace out.
Comments