Lioness Kills Man Invoking God (so many Xians, not enough lions!)

And yes, somebody already DID nominate this for a Darwin Award.

Tuesday, June 6, 2006. Issue 3426. Page 3.
Lioness Kills Man Invoking God
Combined Reports

KIEV -- A man shouting that God would keep him safe was mauled to death by a lioness in the Kiev Zoo after he crept into an enclosure, a zoo official said Monday.

"The man shouted, 'God will save me, if he exists,' lowered himself by a rope into the enclosure, took his shoes off and went up to the lions," the official said.

"A lioness went straight for him, knocked him down and severed his carotid artery."

The head of the zoo, Yevheniy Kirilyuk, said the man had wanted to commit suicide, RIA-Novosti reported.

Police identified the man as a 45-year-old ethnic Azeri with Ukrainian citizenship.

The incident, on Sunday evening when the zoo was packed with visitors, was the first of its kind at the attraction. Lions and tigers are kept in an "animal island" protected by thick concrete blocks. Four lions live in the enclosure.

(Reuters, MT)

More:
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2006/06/06/014.html


"See, I told you they taste just like pork."


Actually, technically, the man was an Agnostic.

"God will save me, if he exists."

Ooops.

Now we'll never know if Gawd exists... or if the man just didn't believe hard enough.

Now only if we can get all the other right wing fundies to do the same.

she was doing as god made her to do, but the dumbos will probably have her euthanazed anyway...recently, a bear attacked a bicyclist in banff park, and the guy only survived thanks to a couple pals - naturally, the cops killed the poor bear, who was starving and...well even me or YOU probably would ressle some overfed bike rider dude into a pot with some carrots and onions(?) if the situation was the same....

see

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=214x75116

Oops.

the guy is still an idiot

you mess with the bull, you get the horns

same goes for lions (and lionesses) I take it

Although religion is just a socially acceptable form of mental illness anyway.

I take exception to your comment that religion is just a "socially accepted form of mental illness anyway"

that minimizes true mental illness, and further medicalizes the problems you seem to have with relgion.

an illness doesn't equal whatever you disagree with Ian.

And broad brush smears of religious people isn't really acceptable here.

because of it.

:shrug:






:rofl:

They are the most dangerous to get in the way of BTW

Why should God save him over a 1 year-old baby who is about to be shot to death in Iraq? Why didn't God save both?

The fact is we were given the ability to reason for a purpose, and it wasn't to throw it away.

"...the good Lord looks after drunks and little children."

Later revisions added fools, but obviously the editors were wrong.

I hate it when animals are sacrificed because of the stupidity of men.

Is it certain they're not going to? If I recall correctly, the lion involved in a similar incident maybe a year ago wasn't killed, either. Good to know that the zoo officials have their priorities straight.

there were and are still four lions in the compound.

There is even a picture of two lionesses taken the day after the incident.

I hope that they don't decide to kill her.

I hate zoos.

I can't understand why people can't see how evil it is to keep animals in enclosed spaces for our pleasure.

for the survival of their species.

except in zoos, how ethical is that?

"how ethical is that?"

What I've always heard from Zoo people is that Zoos help save endangered species from vanishing from the planet.

Since humans are usually the cause of their endangeredness, it is sort of like the idea that if a person is rendered to a state of their heart stopping during a medical procedure, they will usually revive them if possible. (Even in the event of an Advanced Directive, or clear wishes that a person doesn't want to be revived) They do this because of a principle (probably hoping they don't get sued) of iatrogenic cause of a problem.

Have zoos become humans way of trying to save a species from humans out of a principle of this sort?

(I may not have made this clear enough)

and have gotten away from the old menagerie cages.

Many are calling themselves "conservation societies" and consider their primary work not exhibiting animals but preserving species. It could be argued that this is just a copout, but they are doing a lot of work there. It also could be argued that it's a lost cause if they keep pure DNA strains of endangered animals when the habitat for them is lost forever. But, what else you gonna do? Just let them die out?

Reading yesterday about millions of rainforest frogs that are dying off worldwide from a fungus, and the effort to collect a "Noah's Ark" of frogs to keep the species' alive. The people involved don't know if the effort will ultimately be worthwhile, but they're giving it their best shot.

because there's the chance of habitat restoration in the future. Look what's been done to restore the tall grass prairie in some parts of the northern Great Plains. That's making it possible to bring back wild buffalo, along with some of the other species of the ecosystem.

Zoos are a cost/benefit tossup. Most now make it a point to give the critters a habitat as near natural as possible. For the people who come to the zoo, preserving the species in the wild becomes less of an abstraction, more something they want to do because they've actually seen tigers or polar bears. It becomes personal.

http://www.wcs.org/

Even put endangered crocs back into China with its breeding program.

Bronx is the largest zoo in the US and was the leader in changing over from "exhibits" to habitats. And, it's got pretty extensive programs for kids to get them involved in everything from habitat preservation to global warming.

I've been going to the Bronx Zoo since I was a kid, and what they've been doing is amazing. What bothers me most about the place is that so many people avoid it when going to the City-- go there on Wednesdays when it's free, and be the only "white" face in the place. The other days it's groups and members. It's wonderful that the locals in the Bronx love the place so much, but where are the suburbanites who are afraid to set foot in the Bronx?

I regularly get people asking me what to do with kids when they come to New York, or have the grandkids for a day and first thing I tell them is the zoo. The few that get over the horror of going to the Bronx tell me it's one of the best places they've ever been.

I have been grading final essays for the past week, so I am 100% in this mode.

Was the lioness invoking god when she killed the guy?

Well, I think I'm funny anyway.

This is truly sad. Although maybe some of the attention will inspire people to help the zoo improve its animals' conditions.