Male African lion thought to be roaming the woods of WV

[Indy Gal]

I hope someone finds this poor lion before the hunters do. So sad humans are the worst animal in our world.

 

[strach304]

Aww, I love all cats I hope they find him soon. I remember the mountain lion they were tracking in Maryland quite a few years ago that had been someones pet. Actually had a show about it on tv. He was digging in people's garbage for food but not killing their pets.

 

[angelmom]

Okay, this is weird.

My DD7 woke up at 2:30 this morning having a bad dream about a lion in the woods.

She doesn't have bad dreams very often - probably over a month since the last time, and that was at Grandma's house.

Usually they are understandable. Last time was about a fire after they had fire safety week at school. (thanks so much!) The only way to calm her down after that was to go over our detailed family escape plan and physically show her the emergency ladder in the boys' room again (at midnight).

I thought the lion was a little odd. Like, WTH did that come from? I calmed her down by telling her that there are no lions except in zoos here, and it could never happen.

So I had to click on this thread. Don't tell her. SHHHHH!!!

 

[Diamond]

I hope they find him safe and sound. I also wanted to mention that being raised by humans doesn't change what they are and they remain unpredictable. Big cats may become trusting of a single person or possibly two (very rarely more), but they're often the very ones hurt or killed. All the care and love in the world doesn't overcome their nature...genetics.

http://www.bigcatrescue.org/big_cat_news.htm

Edit: I should mention, I'm not much of a fan of this 'rescue', but the information is helpful.

 

[Amraann]

We had a similar situation here in Palm Beach county a few years ago--A lion escaped from this guy's zoo, and unfortunately the police killed it--The owner(who once played Tarzan in the movies) was fined and the rest of his exotic zoo was almost taken away from him--sad to see any animal get killed

UMMM Peter?? It was not sadly ..... The tiger (not a lion) was about to attack the Florida fish and wild life guy.... He had no other choice and it was sad that the media attacked him.

Hubby and I personally know this person.... Truth be told ...... If the owner was complying with regulations about owning such animals then the tiger would have never escaped.
Yet the entire story was about how he shot this large cat???
If a tiger is about to attack you and you have a gun??????? What choice are you going to make?

 

[MeoW333]

They should fly around in a helicopter to search. I can't imagine the brush being as thick as if it were summer. I sure hope no idiot humans go after it for a trophy. A helicopter and tranq guns would be the best bet if the terrain is that vast.

 

[diamondgirl]

I just think it's sad that a wild animal is declawed and defanged. So inhumane. I think its cruel to declaw a cat. What is it going to use if it gets out of the house?

By the way WV is a gorgeous state.

 

[LisainWV]

UMMM Peter?? It was not sadly ..... The tiger (not a lion) was about to attack the Florida fish and wild life guy.... He had no other choice and it was sad that the media attacked him.

Hubby and I personally know this person.... Truth be told ...... If the owner was complying with regulations about owning such animals then the tiger would have never escaped.
Yet the entire story was about how he shot this large cat???
If a tiger is about to attack you and you have a gun??????? What choice are you going to make?

Not speaking for Peter here, but I think a story like that is sad because a human put that cat in that danger by taking it out of it's natural environment and it had to die because of it. That is sad. We humans will never learn.

 

[LisainWV]

They should fly around in a helicopter to search. I can't imagine the brush being as thick as if it were summer. I sure hope no idiot humans go after it for a trophy. A helicopter and tranq guns would be the best bet if the terrain is that vast.

If you find a helicopter pilot that can fly up and down the faces of our WV mountains looking for a lion in dense woodland, he or she will be quite a person. I doubt that it's feasible. Most of our trees still have leaves on them.

 

[GreenEyedGirl]

Road trip! I can see me now...walking through the woods..."here kitty kitty....pssssssst"

Who's in?

I'm game! :waitasec:

 

[Kymistry35]

Did they ever rescue this lion?

 

[LisainWV]

The story has just dropped out of the news.

It was never caught.

And, it may have never been there to begin with?

I think we have a tiger or lion in the WV woods every 2 or 3 years??

 

[ember]

The rumor is that it was someone's pet. They already came forward and said it was theirs and said it was declawed. Who knows...but that's the last I've heard.

 

[Buzz Mills]

More proof of West Virginia inbreeding:

LOL Nova, that is what I was thinking.

 

[Buzz Mills]

The rumor is that it was someone's pet. They already came forward and said it was theirs and said it was declawed. Who knows...but that's the last I've heard.

Declawing cats is inhumane.

 

[ember]

Declawing cats is inhumane.

Right you are, Buzz. It's cruel.
Might as well just cut their whole paw off. Poor kitty, even if it is a big kitty....

 

[Nova]

LOL Nova, that is what I was thinking.

Please don't bring that up again, Buzz. My "West Virginia" jokes are not appreciated by some in that beautiful state. (No sarcasm. I've been there; it is very beautiful.)

I agree with you about declawing. But I had to have it explained to me very clearly. Declawing a lion seems both pointless and cruel.

 

[MeoW333]

If you find a helicopter pilot that can fly up and down the faces of our WV mountains looking for a lion in dense woodland, he or she will be quite a person. I doubt that it's feasible. Most of our trees still have leaves on them.

If ya'll have infrared technology on them, they can fly above the treeline and any sources of heat will show up on the radar =) depending on the tech, the amount of heat will relate to the size of what it is radiating from.

 

[ember]

If ya'll have infrared technology on them, they can fly above the treeline and any sources of heat will show up on the radar =) depending on the tech, the amount of heat will relate to the size of what it is radiating from.

Good idea MeoW333, but we're in WV! In some parts, we still talk by tin cans, lol! :crazy:

There ya go Nova...just so you don't feel bad.
We West Virginians can laugh at ourselves. We have a great sense of humor....especially right now while we're still coming down off of that high we had from last night's WVU smack down on OU! :woohoo: