‘Lion Hiding Under a Hedge’ Turns Out To Be a Bag With a Lion’s Face on It

People living near Mount Kenya National Park in central Kenya made an emergency call to the national wildlife authorities on Thursday after spotting what they thought was a lion hiding out under a hedge. 

But soon after armed officers from the Kenyan Wildlife Service (KWS) “swiftly rushed to the scene in a bid to mitigate a possible Human Wildlife Conflict case”, it was discovered the “lion” was in fact just a shopping bag with an image of a lion on it.

“In an interesting turn of events, we received numerous reports from locals at Kiangua location, Meru County of a lion hiding in a hedge,” the KWS said in a statement. “On arrival, KWS rangers were astonished to find out that the ‘alleged lion’ was a lion printed carrier bag.”

The bag, filled with avocado seeds, had been placed in the hedge by a local homeowner. 

KWS officers were not angry about the false alarm, though. Instead, the service commended the villagers for taking swift action and raising the alarm. 

“Despite this being a false alarm,” the KWS added, “we laud the public for raising an alarm in order to mitigate a possible conflict.”