CHILD SAVED FROM LIONESS

Taranaki Daily News, 3 November 1934, Page 15 (Supplement)

CHILD SAVED FROM LIONESS

Father Follows And Shoots Raiding_Animal AWAKENED BY CRY OF TERROR IN THE NIGHT rpHE amazing adventure of a one-year-old baby, who was actually in the jaws of a honess when rescued by a shot by ner , own father, is told of the little daughter of Mr and Mrs Dechempel, of Northern Rhodesia. The child was sleeping with its parents in their tent by the side of the Kafue River when the father was awakened by a sudden cry of terror in the night and caught sight of the hindquarters of a honess disappeaiing under the flap of the tent. The little one was in the jaws of the beast. Seizing a torch and a rifle and shouting to his native boys in the camp, Mr Dechempel lost no time in following the lioness.' He was joined by several natives armed with spears who threw, firebrands in the direction the. lioness had taken, shouted, and raised as much noise as possible in the hope that the brute would drop tne baby. After following the “spoor for half an hour, the party at last cornered the lioness lying behind a bush in a small clearing. The baby lay crying between its paws. Mr Dechempel, with great coolness, took careful aim and fired. The lioness dropped dead. Apart from the shock the baby seemed none the worse for ifis terrifying experience.