Abducted Girl Saved by Lions

Sgt. Wondimu Wedajo — Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

A 12-year-old girl who was abducted and beaten by men trying to force her into a marriage was found being guarded by three lions who apparently had chased off her captors, a policeman said Tuesday.

The girl, missing for a week, had been taken by seven men who wanted to force her to marry one of them, said Sgt. Wedajo, speaking by telephone from the provincial capital of Bita Genet, about 350 miles southwest of Addis Ababa.

She was beaten repeatedly before she was found June 9 by police and relatives on the outskirts of Bita Genet, Wedajo said. He reported that she had been guarded by the lions for about half a day. “They stood guard until we found her and then they just left her like a gift and went back into the forest,” he said.