PACK OF LIONS

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XVII, 29 September 1927, Page 7

PACK OF LIONS

TERRORISE S. AFRICAN DISTRICT TWENTY PEOPLE KILLED. SOME STRANGE STORIES. Johannesburg, Aug. 27. A pack of lions are terrorizing the Fort Jamieson district, Northern Rhodesia, and already more than twenty deaths are laid at their door. The other day a native woman ap peared at the Boma (police headquarters) her bare shoulders torn and lacerated, 111 her hand a strange mass of tawny hair, and on her face a sullen, inscrutable expression. Her tale was a strange one. She had been hoeing her husband’s garden the previous morning with her baby, a« is customary, strapped to her back, she said, when a lion came out of the bush and seized the infant. Startled out of her wits at what had happened, she had chased the lion in an endeavoui to rescue her baby, but had only succeeded in pulling out a piece of the animal's mane. “And here it is for the baas (master) to see,” she said, holding out the hair. This episode is only one of a sucsion of similar tragedies that have taken place in the district in the past few months. At first, local residents thought that the killing were the work of only one man-eating lion, but, as time went on and the tragedies increased, it was realized that there must be a pack at large. KILLINGS FOR 24 HOURS. One typical twenty-four hours’ work was: The killing of a native on a tobacco estate, the mauling of a donkey on a neighbouring farm, the eating of n native woman who had strayed inadvertenly too far from'her hut just before daybreak the killing of a native herd bov who had got un early to milk his master’s cows, and the chewing of the tails of five donkeys. One of the lions, which has been seen 011 numerous occasions, is known to be old. battered and decidedly cowardly. Babies are apparently a. favoured delicacy, for this old lion also helped himself to an infant from off its mother’s back while the woman was hoeing in the fields. The mother, however, was more fortunate than the one mentioned above, for she beat the animal with the business end of her hoe. whereupon the lion drooped the yelling baby and slunk off into the bush. One of the planters of the district has just had an experience that is probablv unique. He had purchased a new car, and kept it parked outside the front door of his homestead. One night the family were awakened by a curious tearin- and Sizzling sound. Lighting a lamp, the master of the house crept out on to the verandah just in time to see a large form slinking away from the new ..'ar. Next morning it was discovered that all four tyres of the car had been ripped to shreds, one of the lamps had been smashed, blood was smeared all over the hood, and the mudguards were deeplv indented bv teeth marks. Inspection left no shadow of doubt that a wandering bon had been responsible fqr_ the damage, for the spoor was plainly visible, while coarse hairs fi-oin his man- were found sticking to portions of the car. Apparently the visitor had anticipated a juicy meal off the tyres—but it had only found food for thought in ‘he air they had contained.