Uh Oh .. another 'lion' sighting in UK

[EnglishLady]

Oh boy this had better not be another toy one - but on the other hand ..... !!!!


BBC

Police in Essex are investigating reports that a lion has been spotted in a field near St Osyth.

Residents have been advised to stay indoors after the sighting in fields off Earls Hall Drive around 19:00 BST.

Essex police are working with experts from Colchester Zoo who believe the reports to be genuine after being shown a photograph by a member of the public.

Local resident Che Kevlin told the BBC: "I heard a loud roar at 10pm. It sounded like the roar of a lion."

Armed police have been drafted into the area, along with uniformed police, and a police helicopter is searching the area where it was spotted.

Mr Kevlin said that shortly after hearing the roaring sound he got a text from a relative telling him a lion was on the loose in St Osyth.

He said: "It was worrying as we had just been for a walk with the dog. We saw the police helicopter but thought it was just searching for a person.

"It sounded like the roar of a lion. We have field and wood just behind our fence, so you never know," he added.

There are several holiday caravan parks in and around St Osyth and Sean Williams, who is in a caravan, said he was worried about going out.

Mr Williams, who said he heard about the lion on Twitter, said: "The children are with me and we are quite worried. We were out in fields in St Osyth but we're back in the caravan now.

"We've only seen one police car bombing it down the road. We had a fishing trip planned for tomorrow but we're now debating whether to carry on."

Police are asking anyone who sees the animal to call 999

Police said all the animals at Colchester Zoo had been accounted for and they are investigating where the lion may have come from

 

[layoutshooter]

Why do they need to investigate where the lion came from? It came from the female lion that gave birth to it. Leave it to the Brits to ignore the obvious!

 

[EnglishLady]

Why do they need to investigate where the lion came from? It came from the female lion that gave birth to it. Leave it to the Brits to ignore the obvious!

ROFL

Its probably only an oversized moggy

 

[OldGuy]

Why cancel the fishing trip? Just make sure to take your AK47 with you.... oh wait, you can't own guns, right I forgot. Carry on!

 

[layoutshooter]

Why cancel the fishing trip? Just make sure to take your AK47 with you.... oh wait, you can't own guns, right I forgot. Carry on!

As much as it costs to fish in England I WOULD be fishing. I would not NEED a rifle. I would kill that lien bare handed after spending all that money!

 

[EnglishLady]

The search has been called off.

Official line is (well sort of official) .... searched all night, didn't find anything, keep your eyes open, its probably a really big kitty or a wildcat.

But the really good news is ....... they did NOT find a stuffed animal this time .... yet?!?

LOL

 

[layoutshooter]

The search has been called off.

Official line is (well sort of official) .... searched all night, didn't find anything, keep your eyes open, its probably a really big kitty or a wildcat.

But the really good news is ....... they did NOT find a stuffed animal this time .... yet?!?

LOL

There goes the excitement for the area! Back to the ole dominoes in the pub routine!

 

[layoutshooter]

Hey Sue, Jan says now that they don't have to look for lions they can get back to looking for Nessie. WHICH is far better done after an evening of many pints and dominoes!

 

[EnglishLady]

Hey Sue, Jan says now that they don't have to look for lions they can get back to looking for Nessie. WHICH is far better done after an evening of many pints and dominoes!

That is Scotland not England LOL.

We have don't have mythical creatures in England now that St George slayed all the dragons .....

ROFL

 

[Turtle]

A small army of officers and tranquilizer-toting zoo experts, along with a pair of heat-seeking helicopters, are spending their Monday combing the woods, ponds, and farmland around the coastal community after a resident spotted what was believed to be a lion lounging in a field of grass.

Where such a beast may have come from is anyone's guess; the local zoo says its animals are accounted for, and police have said a local circus isn't missing any either. As of early afternoon, the force hadn't found any paw prints or droppings, but officers said they were treating the sighting seriously, and so too are St. Osyth's 4,000-odd residents.

"I wouldn't expect to see a lion walking up the high street, but it seems to be very quiet in the village," said Jason Amos, who owns St. Osyth's timber-framed Red Lion pub. "People are taking it very seriously."

The sighting has prompted a media frenzy in Britain, with the Daily Mail tabloid splashing a picture of a snarling lion across its front page and camera crews racing to the historic village, which is built around medieval priory only a couple of miles from England's south coast.

Amos said he'd just seen journalists from Britain's Sky News television broadcasting from outside the pub.

Improbable sightings of dangerous animals are a familiar part of the British news cycle, particularly at the height of summer when journalists struggle to fill papers and news bulletins.

Last year, police in northern England scrambled a helicopter and passengers were stopped from leaving a train after a motorist reported seeing a lion (a hunt turned up nothing). During the riots that hit London in 2011, there were rumors - quickly disproven - that a tiger was on the loose in the capital after escaping from the city zoo.

In 2007, the British media went wild over a man who claimed to have photographed a great white shark off the coast of Cornwall, in southwestern England. He later admitted that the pictures were actually taken while on vacation in South Africa, adding that he couldn't believe anyone had been foolish enough to take the hoax seriously.

"You don't really expect to be told that a lion is wandering around the area," said Dave Sparks, who runs the Red Lion pub near where the animal was reportedly spotted.

Landshark!

 

[EnglishLady]

LOL wondered where you were LOL.

Where did you get that report? Its very dramatic LOL ..... heat seeking helicopters, tranquiliser toting zoo experts, ROFL

The Beeb was much more sedate about it all .... "Armed police have been drafted into the area, along with uniformed police, and a police helicopter is searching the area where it was spotted"

 

[Turtle]

LOL wondered where you were LOL.

I only regret they didn't fund a stuffed lion somewhere.

Where did you get that report? Its very dramatic LOL ..... heat seeking helicopters, tranquiliser toting zoo experts, ROFL

NY Daily News, from an AP report. It's hilarious.

Check out the pictures. I'm surprised they didn't have a comment about the police making sure to not have their hands out in the open where they could get bitten off or something.