Stray lions spark wild jokes on social media

The lioness that had escaped its habitat at Nairobi Nation Park. Reports of the large cats wandering out of the famous park on Friday not only caused a stir among Kenyans but also caught the attention of international media. PHOTO | WILLIAM OERI | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • On Saturday, the Kenya Wildlife Service told the Sunday Nation that the whereabouts of a lioness and her two cubs were unclear.
  • It was feared the four lions were roaming the area around Lang’ata having been spotted by two motorists on Thursday night.

What started as a story alarming enough to make city residents scared stiff– the escape by lionesses from the Nairobi National Park – turned out to be an opportunity for some people’s imaginations to turn wild and make jokes of a potentially deadly situation.

Reports of the large cats wandering out of the famous park on Friday not only caused a stir among Kenyans but also caught the attention of international media.

ABC News, BBC, CNN, The Guardian, New York Times and the Washington Post were among international media outlets that reported about the strayed lions.

On Saturday, the Kenya Wildlife Service told the Sunday Nation that the whereabouts of a lioness and her two cubs were unclear.

One lion reportedly returned to the park.

It was feared the four lions were roaming the area around Lang’ata having been spotted by two motorists on Thursday night.

KWS spokesperson Paul Gathitu told the Sunday Nation the search was on for the protective and sly lioness, which they suspected was hiding in thickets, part of the military barracks in Lang’ata — which are separated from the park by a fence — to protect its cubs.

While concerns lasted over the threat posed by the lions to the populace, it was time for imaginations to wander and jokes to do the rounds on social media.

HASHTAGS

Because their trademark symbol is a lion, Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) pounced on the story, tweeting an image of a walking lion with a message: “When your customers don’t come to you, you go to them, #TembeaKenya”.

But a Twitter user turned the joke on KCB and said that the Mafisi (hyenas) Sacco — a playful reference to hot-blooded males — had decided that the face of the hyena will replace that of the lion on the KCB logo until the “lion is recovered”.

RMA Motors Kenya also joined in the corporate banter: “If you spot a Lion, contact KWS, if you spot a Jaguar, it probably got loose from the RMA showroom. Contact us,” they tweeted, with a smiley face to boot.

NTV also posted a tongue-in-cheek message that the lions were participating in the episode of NTV Wild that ran on Saturday evening — which was titled "African Cats".

Still on matters corporate, another establishment that got into the den was Nairobi’s Simba Saloon. “Have the KWS wardens checked whether the stray lions are at The Simba Saloon at Carnivore?” a Facebook user joked.

TRENDING JOKES

Because the police who man the Kenyan roads are known to take bribes, one Twitter user uploaded a photo of a sheep strapped to the passenger’s front seat.

He said that was a ready bribe for motorists using Lang’ata Road in case the lions appear.

Some looked at the issue politically. Because the opposition is known for criticising the government at every opportunity and as it was just five days into the registration of new voters, a widely circulated message took a swipe at the opposition.

“Cord now says that the disappearance of the lions is a deliberate strategy by Jubilee to scare away Kibera residents from registering as voters,” the message read.

In another political angle to the banter, a message critical of MPs was also doing the rounds. “Why are six lions a problem while we’ve got 290 hyenas in the Parliament at the CBD?” it read.

As quickly as it took a political dimension, a social angle also emerged, lampooning some of the excuses wayward men use to sleep away from home.

“Dear wife, I am sorry I have to sleep in a hotel today. Like you heard there are lions roaming in Nairobi. I don’t want to make you a widow or my children fatherless. Tuvumilie pamoja. (Let’s be together as we face this)....”

Meanwhile, Kenya Wildlife Service has dispelled fears that the lioness posed danger to the public, saying all it minded was protecting its cubs, which he said were barely two weeks old.