WILD rumours on social networking sites about an escapee lion from Chester Zoo proved to be cat-egorically false.
Chester Zoo has confirmed that all three of its lions – Iblis, Kumari and Kiburi – are present and correct.
What may have sparked rumours was police activity involving the force helicopter in the Caughall Road area, near the zoo, about 10pm last night due to the theft of diesel from a building site at a former council depot in Flag Lane North. One man has been arrested.
Zoo spokesman Will Condliffe said: “Our lions are all here and accounted for. I’m not sure where that rumour came from. One of the staff lives in Caughall Road and said there were a lot of police looking for something last night.
“It’s quite easy for these rumours to get started on Twitter. Someone puts something out there, it gets re-tweeted and before you know it, it’s gone viral.”
Among the remarks on Facebook was one from Victoria Renshaw, who wrote: “Has Chester Zoo found the lion coz I walk to work and don't fancy being eaten?!? ??”
Julie Parry commented: “Lion on the loose in Chester? Wonder if its donned a suit and is sneaking into the races?!”
Annette Evans asked: “Really?? Is there a lion loose ????” Julie replied: “ Well, that's the rumour! It's probably a ginger cat!”
Warren Steven Gawthorpe wrote: “So apparently a lion went walkabouts from Chester Zoo yesterday...? What got me thinking this morning was have they checked the following enclosures: hippo, giraffe, the zebra and let's not forget the penguins....it is like Madagascar 4 haha.”
