Little African girl saved from pursuers by lions-Disputed!

Young Girl Saved From Pursuers by Lions-Disputed!

Summary of the eRumor
An incredible story of a young girl in Africa who was running from a group of men who had beaten her and wanted to force her into marriage.
As she ran down a road, she encountered a pride of lions who reportedly protected her until she stopped crying then let police tend to her.

The Truth
Reports from remote areas of the world are sometimes unreliable, but there are published stories about this one.
A BBC article from June 22, 2005 quotes police in West Ethiopia as saying that the story is true.
Sergeant Wondmu Wedaj from Bita Genet told the BBC that the lions stood guard until the police got there then "left her like a gift" and went back into the forest.
The article quotes lion experts as being skeptical about that, however, and suggest that the lion was actually preparing to eat the girl but scattered when the police showed up.
One animal expert also told reporters that the lions may have spared the girl because her crying may have sounded like the mewing sound from a lion cub.
The story has been widely reported in Africa and described as a miracle.
It appears to depend on who is interpreting the lion's actions as to as to how the event is described.

Updated 6/26/05

A real example of the eRumor as it has appeared on the Internet:

Subject: Incrediable story

Heard this morning on the radio, how our DJ is afraid of dogs, he owns one but when a dog growls or barks he gets scared. Well he continued by saying in West Ethiopia, it isn’t uncommon for groups of men to kidnap a young girl of about 12 and force her into marriage and of course sexual behavior. These 7 men had kidnapped a little girl, and when she refused their advances, they beat her pretty bad to the point that she was bloody, well she was able to run away. She had a little bit of a head start down the road but they were close on her tail. In the middle of the road were a group of lions. The girl had the choice of the lions which would’ve eaten her for dinner being bloody and all, or going back into the 7 men. She chose the lions to run into, she was crying and whimpering. The lions circled her. Two of them layed down beside her while the 3rd stood in front of her body. People in the village witnessed this and called police. It took a while for the police to arrive, and when they did, they couldn’t do anything but wait.

Four hours went by, and the girl stopped crying. The lions got up and ran off into the jungle where they had come from, and the police were finally able to rescue the little girl. The police said the lions must’ve thought she was a hurt cub, with her crying and whimpering, and protected her, instead of tearing her up.

Isn’t thisa wonderful story? I had chills after I heard it. Good Lions J