Police: Lions free kidnapped girl

[TheDiplomat]

http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/africa/06/21/ethiopia.lions.ap/index.html

Tuesday, June 21, 2005; Posted: 11:56 a.m. EDT (15:56 GMT)

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP) -- Police say three lions rescued a 12-year-old girl kidnapped by men who wanted to force her into marriage, chasing off her abductors and guarding her until police and relatives tracked her down in a remote corner of Ethiopia.

The men had held the girl for seven days, repeatedly beating her, before the lions chased them away and guarded her for half a day before her family and police found her, Sgt. Wondimu Wedajo said Tuesday by telephone from the provincial capital of Bita Genet, some 560 kilometers (348 miles) west of the capital, Addis Ababa.

"They stood guard until we found her and then they just left her like a gift and went back into the forest," Wondimu said, adding he did not know whether the lions were male or female.

News of the June 9 rescue was slow to filter out from Kefa Zone in southwestern Ethiopia.

"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," he said.

"Everyone ... thinks this is some kind of miracle, because normally the lions would attack people," Wondimu said.

Stuart Williams, a wildlife expert with the rural development ministry, said that it was likely that the young girl was saved because she was crying from the trauma of her attack.

"A young girl whimpering could be mistaken for the mewing sound from a lion cub, which in turn could explain why they (the lions) didn't eat her," Williams said. "Otherwise they probably would have done."

The girl, the youngest of four brothers and sisters, was "shocked and terrified" and had to be treated for the cuts from her beatings, Wondimu said.

He said that police had caught four of the men, but were still looking for three others.

In Ethiopia, kidnapping has long been part of the marriage custom, a tradition of sorrow and violence whose origins are murky.

The United Nations estimates that more than 70 percent of marriages in Ethiopia are by abduction, practiced in rural areas where the majority of the country's 71 million people live.

Ethiopia's lions, famous for their large black manes, are the country's national symbol and adorn statues and the local currency. Former emperor Haile Selassie kept a pride in the royal palace in Addis Ababa.

Despite their integral place in Ethiopia culture, their numbers have been falling, according to experts, as farmers encroach on bush land.

Hunters also kill the animals for their skins, which can fetch $1,000, despite a recent crackdown against illegal animal trading across the country. Williams said that at most only 1,000 Ethiopian lions remain in the wild.

Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Amazing

[Ghost of]

In Ethiopia, kidnapping has long been part of the marriage custom, a tradition of sorrow and violence whose origins are murky.

The United Nations estimates that more than 70 percent of marriages in Ethiopia are by abduction, practiced in rural areas where the majority of the country's 71 million people live.

Jesus....

[JMac]

Wow! It boggles my mind some of the human like heroic acts animals have performed.

[Riggo-toni]

Originally posted by Ghost of Nibbs McPimpin

Jesus....

No, more like... Mohammed

Sorry.

[Shallow1]

Another reason I am thankful to live in the USA, for those who bash living in this country I will contribute $ so you can go visit these places.Try Calcutta India where babies by the hundreds are left weekly to die in the streets......Ive seen them, held them, fed them, cleaned them, then had to place them back on the sidewalk because no one will take them...but at least the ones I held knew what it was like once in there life.........I will never forget....

[NASMTrainer]

Originally posted by Shallow1

Another reason I am thankful to live in the USA, for those who bash living in this country I will contribute $ so you can go visit these places.Try Calcutta India where babies by the hundreds are left weekly to die in the streets......Ive seen them, held them, fed them, cleaned them, then had to place them back on the sidewalk because no one will take them...but at least the ones I held knew what it was like once in there life.........I will never forget....

Damn dude, that might be the saddest thing I have read in a long time.

[Shallow1]

Should have tried being there, I was an assistant on a student documentary of Mother Teresas life last year, got to visit her compound and we had to take a 5 hr. train ride to Calcutta...(I thought that was bad) until we got into the slums and saw hundreds of kids running the streets, babies crying in the streets, every day a truck comes by and picks up the dead or near dead children to be burried so disease wont run wild. I was just assisting with teh equipment, we all were in tears set our stuff down and started to help the aid workers, I remeber saying "What do you mean just leave them? How is this possible? Where are we taking them?" I just remember the other workers saying "No one will love these children so we must, we are few but we must love them. No one will take them and we do not have the ability to take hundereds of kids a week in. So we must love them where they are and pray gods mercy over them." It was earth shattering for me...I am so thankful for all I have had or have,...this society needs to get over themselves and look beyond our own wants so we can help some others with there needs.....

[nickfox45]

maybe we need more loving lions?:doh:

sorry, not trying to belittle that experience, that is truly amazing on many levels, both uplifting that people are doing what they can to help and horrific at the same time that things like that go on every day, just trying to lighten the mood a little...

[TheDiplomat]

Originally posted by Shallow1

Should have tried being there, I was an assistant on a student documentary of Mother Teresas life last year, got to visit her compound and we had to take a 5 hr. train ride to Calcutta...(I thought that was bad) until we got into the slums and saw hundreds of kids running the streets, babies crying in the streets, every day a truck comes by and picks up the dead or near dead children to be burried so disease wont run wild. I was just assisting with teh equipment, we all were in tears set our stuff down and started to help the aid workers, I remeber saying "What do you mean just leave them? How is this possible? Where are we taking them?" I just remember the other workers saying "No one will love these children so we must, we are few but we must love them. No one will take them and we do not have the ability to take hundereds of kids a week in. So we must love them where they are and pray gods mercy over them." It was earth shattering for me...I am so thankful for all I have had or have,...this society needs to get over themselves and look beyond our own wants so we can help some others with there needs.....

Wow. I definitely agree with your last thought. What can we do though? Or how do we go about helping them?

[Ghost of]

the thing is, it might be that it's precisely the ideology of collectivism that hurts these people.

My ex-gf worked in the Gambia and she saw how foreign aid actually becomes a dependency and bad societal habit-forming 'drug.' A society that lets kids die on the street by the hundreds needs to reform ITSELF. Outsiders coming in and taking their excess or unwanted children/problems will just take all teh pressure off of them.

Now, that change and reform may not be easy but it does NOT come in the form of material assistance. A society(or part of a society) that is infected so can only be changed by spiritual/ideological/moral reformation. Sure, example is one aspect, but there needs to be more than just a 'helping hand.' Our own society is filled with people who are constantly offered a helping hand but learn nothing from the aid.

Besides, we give the most privately of any nation on earth. Western nations are the ones who provide the manpower for most of the efforts you see around the world. They can only do so much when there are deep pathologies within a given culture.

[TheDiplomat]

Originally posted by Ghost of Nibbs McPimpin

the thing is, it might be that it's precisely the ideology of collectivism that hurts these people.

My ex-gf worked in the Gambia and she saw how foreign aid actually becomes a dependency and bad societal habit-forming 'drug.' A society that lets kids die on the street by the hundreds needs to reform ITSELF. Outsiders coming in and taking their excess or unwanted children/problems will just take all teh pressure off of them.

Now, that change and reform may not be easy but it does NOT come in the form of material assistance. A society(or part of a society) that is infected so can only be changed by spiritual/ideological/moral reformation. Sure, example is one aspect, but there needs to be more than just a 'helping hand.' Our own society is filled with people who are constantly offered a helping hand but learn nothing from the aid.

Besides, we give the most privately of any nation on earth. Western nations are the ones who provide the manpower for most of the efforts you see around the world. They can only do so much when there are deep pathologies within a given culture.

Wow. So is there any foreign aid that can change these people's mindset or reform their ideas and practices? I understand that material foreign aid will just make these people think they can continue to do what they are doing, but what about the children?

Edit: Also, all jokes aside, but can we provide them with birth control methods, or sponser classes that help in this?

[Shallow1]

Ghost I do agree with your take 100% the kind of things we can do start in our own country, something a easy as finding out what the single mom down the street needs help with around the house, or taking some time to be something in the little boys/girls life thats friends with your son/daughter that does not have a dad/mom. Visit a retirement home, esspecially on the holidays. It really starts at home 1st and ussually only costs you some personal time. Pretty cheap price to change someones life for the better...

[Ghost of]

Originally posted by TheDiplomat

Wow. So is there any foreign aid that can change these people's mindset or reform their ideas and practices? I understand that material foreign aid will just make these people think they can continue to do what they are doing, but what about the children?

Edit: Also, all jokes aside, but can we provide them with birth control methods, or sponser classes that help in this?

It's not that there isn't a place for charity. But it should be closely monitored and controlled by teh organization doling it out. Also, you help EDUCATE the population as much as you can while doing it.

I sponsor a child in the rural area of Thailand. The organization is religious in nature and teaches basic skills(reading, writing) and helps the village or town build what we might call infrastructure.

There's also the sad fact that some areas will be poor for an incredibly long time. But there is a difference between being poor and being desperate, having a hard time caring for your children adn committing infanticide. There is a difference between not having as much and not having potable water.

Fortunately, the birth rates in the Third World exposed to sat TV are falling a bit. As women see what is available to them, they are, sometimes surreptitiously, family planning so that they can not wear themselves out with 5 births.

And contrary to what feminists in the West think, there is no patriarchy here. But in these countries one of the biggest issues is the treatment of women. It's not that all of them are 'abused' but the expectations for them are so low and opportunities so limited it creates a low value on female children and cuts off the human potential of a society(even 1800s Western women were in far better sorts than these places)

It is a difficult thing, trying to change a place or help a person. Think of your own life and the times someone tried to help you or help someone you knew. Many times, it doesn't work. But there are more effective and less effective strategies.

One of teh biggest things, and one almost no one involved with these charities ever talks about is establishing societies where property rights and contract law are enforced and codified and a transparent and predictable legal system.

These are even MORE important than having 'democratic' institutitons such as elections. The democratic machinery comes when the economy and society are liberalized. The problem is, many countries think they can westernize their technology and economies but avoid 'western' thinking. But it is difficult, if not impossible, to make such inroads without adopting things like scientific method, property rights, intellectual property, transparent and predictable legal systems, etc. Oh and things like citizenship of a country, rather than blood ties to tribes, etc.