LIONS LOOSE

Evening Post, Volume CXIII, Issue 10, 13 January 1932, Page 5

LIONS LOOSE

«. EXCITING,THREE, HOURS

A y TRAFFIC BLOCK

A lion and .'/lioness' which escaped from Perry Bros.' circus caravan on the main road near Mansfield, in Victoria, terrorised -cattle •■in adjoining fields, hold up the local show day traffic, and provided residents and others with an exciting hunt that lasted for: more than three hours. ' * Peter was the lion, and Quecnie was the lioness, and they woro travelling in a cage lashed to a motor-truck at the rear of the circus caravan. When the cage lurched over a bump in the road Peter was thrown against the tioor, and it burst open. Both Peter and Queenio fell out, but the driver was unaware what had. happened, and as the motortruck jolted along the lion and the lioness followed for nearly a mile. Then a Bonnie Doon farmer, on his'way. to the Mansfield Show, came upon the beast just as he rounded a bend in tho road, and he received such a shock that he almost ran his car into a ditch at the side of the road. The Bonnie Doon man quickly recovered and 'glad, no doubt, to get away from the scene, rushed to the caravan and reported what ho had'seen. Great excitement at once prevailed. The driver of the caravan went back for a mile but could find no trace of the beasts. . Then someone noticed that the cattle in a nearby field were more lively than was normally the ease. They had reason to be. The lion and his mate were prowling, up and down outside a barbed wire fence, and the cattle seemed to'realise that only this fence was between them and death. The beasts quickly disappeared when the crowd came in sight, so it was de-cided-to-inform thelocal constable. Ho seized his gun and rjustercd five car loads of local resident^ to assist him in the search.. When they arrived somewhere near tho scene they found that all traffic for four miles had been blocked: The army had to proceed on foot. It looked more'like a picnic than a lion hunt; It was not. long before ,the~arii'ma'ls";:wpre'located, aiid it re- ■ quired-somo effort on the part'of the proprietor and tho constable to prevent all and sundry from firing. The circus cage was brought back, and by some meaas. or other, and greatly to the disappointment of the big game hunters, Peter was coaxed inside. Queenie was m,ore cunning and eluded capture time:and again. Mounting one of the cars one of the circus men managed to lassoo Queenie, but Queenie quickly, chewed through/ the rope and then regained- her liberty. She was, However, trapped by a leg.of beef thrown into the cage. This she simply could not. resist—and the cir ( cus played to a 1 bumper house at Mansfield that night. >