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| - Fact Check: Old, controversial story of African lions saving a girl surfaces again
A fascinating story of a pride of lions saving an Ethiopian girl from her abductors is doing the rounds on Facebook.
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India Today Fact Check
This is an old incident from 2005 which was widely reported by international media.
A fascinating story of a pride of lions saving an Ethiopian girl from her abductors is doing the rounds on Facebook.
Facebook user 'Creepy Facts' has recently posted a picture of the girl and a lion, claiming that the lions stayed with her till the help arrived.
India Today Anti Fake News War Room (AFWA) has found this to be an old incident which was covered by many mainstream international media. Earlier, lion experts had even expressed doubts about the credibility of the story.
The message with the Facebook post reads, An Ethiopian girl was being brutally beaten by 7 men when a pride of lions chased them away. They even stayed with her until help arrived.
Nearly 200 people shared this post at the time of writing this story, with some doubting the authenticity of the story.
Many Facebook users have posted this same story, calling it "a miracle of God".
During our search, we found that this story was covered by international media such as BBC News and NBC News in 2005.
According to BBC News, the 12-year-old girl was abducted by four men on her way home from school in June 2005. A week later, when police tracked the men as they were trying to escape with the girl, the abductors encountered three African lions who chased them off. The lions stayed with the girl without harming her, according to the report.
The story had spread like wildfire after BBC quoted a local policeman, sergeant Wondmu Wedaj, who said, They stood guard until we found her and then they just left her like a gift and went back into the forest."
However, lion experts doubted the credibility of the story. BBC News quoted a few wildlife experts on the same report. They said the lions were probably preparing to eat the girl but were intercepted by the police and others. Another expert said the lions might have spared the girl because her crying may have sounded similar to the mewing of lion cubs.
International fact checker Truth or Fiction called the story disputed. There could be different interpretations for the lions’ behavior, but in Africa, the incident was widely reported as a miracle.
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