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She was trying to take a picture....many people would try to take pictures, it's not like the lion was running towards us, it was standing around looking content, and she thought "what a cool picture" She was 22 for God's sake. Glad you all were so brilliant at 22.
On the news it said she was an EXPERIENCED photojournalist. I'd think an experienced photojournalist would know that a LION can eat you or maim you anytime… especially in a park where the signs are posted EVERYWHERE saying KEEP WINDOWS ROLLED UP AT ALL TIMES. Her death is sad, but was also preventable and stupid.
Lots of people are killed & injured every year now trying to get "cool" pics or videos. People need to use common sense.
Oh, and not only did she selfishly and foolishly risk her own life for a picture, she risked her driver/guide's life too who suffered a heart attack trying to save her. So sorry I can't just say oh, she was 22 and trying to snap a cool pic. She was selfish and stupid.
On the news it said she was an EXPERIENCED photojournalist. I'd think an experienced photojournalist would know that a LION can eat you or maim you anytime… especially in a park where the signs are posted EVERYWHERE saying KEEP WINDOWS ROLLED UP AT ALL TIMES. Her death is sad, but was also preventable and stupid.
Lots of people are killed & injured every year now trying to get "cool" pics or videos. People need to use common sense.
Oh, and not only did she selfishly and foolishly risk her own life for a picture, she risked her driver/guide's life too who suffered a heart attack trying to save her. So sorry I can't just say oh, she was 22 and trying to snap a cool pic. She was selfish and stupid.
I understand it was stupid, but IMO many here are being way too harsh on her. First of all, she had a South African tour guide in the car with her, why would she think he didn't know what was safe and what wasn't?
Second I still think many people would make this stupid mistake, it doesn't make her "proof of Darwinism" or an "imbecile" or any other mean thing a few people here are saying. JMO. She's a young girl who had a passion for animals and made a tragic error in judgement.
This is actually pretty rare and suprising. I've been to South Africa Kruger Nat'l Park. You can drive in during the day but can't get out of your car. I don't particuclarly remember rules about keeping your window rolled up but I think the rangers and other parties also did tours in open range rover type vehicles. Rangers also offer walks in the park during the day, the rangers are armed however.
But the day - lions don't hunt during the day. I've seen them on the above walking tour, from maybe a hundred yards away. Lions are just sleeping during the day, they know the night is there time and they have all the advantages. They do kill humans from time to time, at night...rangers told us plenty of stories - usually the migrants trying to sneak into South Africa from Mozambique to find work (like mexicans into the US). The whole border is Kroger, so many become lion food at night.
Now, this park was not Kroger so the lion there might not be totally wild and, unforunetely are probably associating people and the car with food (people probably fed them from the car in the past). We in the US have the same issue with bears.
So people eat more mosquitos than mosquitos eat people? That is a nonsense comparision due to the differences in population. There have been tigers that have killed and eaten hundreds of people during their lifetimes. How many people have eater hundreds of entire tigers in their life? Oh wait, none.
Man kills more mosquitoes in one year than mosquitos have killed man in the history of mankind. A single tiger has killed hundreds? Nonsense. There have been hunters/poachers who have killed dozens of tigers if not hundreds.
When is the last time tigers have encroached on man's territory and run him off? It's man taking the habitat of tigers that have left many tiger species endangered.
Yes. They simply do not try to go through the window.
The late Colin Fletcher, renowned for his extensive writing on backpacking, wrote in The Complete Walker of the six months he spent in East Africa, living out in the bush in the early 1970s (he had previously lived and farmed and built roads in what was then Rhodesia, so he knew the land well). In North America, Fletcher never used a tent unless rain or snow required it. In East Africa, he did so because of the lions and hyenas, which often prowled his campsites at night. But they made no attempt to get into his tent. He did caution that it was important to keep all flaps closed, as lions have been known to wander into open tents (with predictably bad results for the occupants of said tents).
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The more and more I read the article I see that she wasn't attacked by a wild lions but zoo animals - fed by humans and used to the sight of humans. Note to anyone going to S. Africa: Get out of Josburg and head the couple hundred miles to see real wildlife in Africa, not open air zoo animals. Sad that, with all the natural parks around, she essentially went to a fake one.
From your thread, that is indeed how wild animals react. The tent is a barrier to lions. We did camping in Kroger as well, a park the size of New Jersey. The ranger set up a flexible waist high electric fence around our camp operated by a generator. We slept in tents but were instructed in no uncertain terms to not leave our tents at night. After a few drinks one afternoon the ranger told us "you know, really, the electric fence does nothing. A lion will walk right over it. What really keeps the lions out is the tent. Although just fabric, the lions see it as a wall that they can't get through". Just do not leave that tent at night - night time is the time for predators, not humans.
A footnote here: Lions or tigers aren't even the most lethal animal in South Africa. I think they said it was buffalo if I remember correctly.
Yeah, that WAS Timothy Treadwell. BTW, they think the girlfriend he had with him was on the rag, and for that reason alone had attracted the old bear that ate them both.
I thought it was because he tried to take the bear's pic-a-nic basket.
Who in their right mind would have all windows completely opened while in close proximity to lions?
To the other posters a digusting lack of compassion calling it a darwin award winner. I would imagine if it was your daughter you wouldn't be saying that. People make mistakes. Also, we've been taught by the lunatic fringe conservationist movement that lions/animals only attack when provoked and attacks on humans are so rare(exposure to lions is rare so total number of deaths is low since most people don't live near lions) which is a load of crap.
Lots of people open their windows a crack I imagine thinking they'll be able to get them closed in time if the lion charges.
The question I have is why would people think this is safe EVEN WITH THE WINDOWS CLOSED? A lion could easily tear open a locked car door. Black bears do it all the time in national parks. They tear the door right off the hinges. Nevermind the glass. If a lion rammed itself into a side window it would easily break. Those lions weigh over 400 pounds and can run at 30mph+. Why would a par allow people to bring their own vehicles in? So stupid
Lions are really horrible creatures. Vicious beast. They kill their own young. They tear animals apart limb from limb for fun in many cases. Not sure why we are supposed to worship them or nature. They are what they are.
Lion should have put down. Insulting to the victim not to. It's just an animal.
The more and more I read the article I see that she wasn't attacked by a wild lions but zoo animals - fed by humans and used to the sight of humans. Note to anyone going to S. Africa: Get out of Josburg and head the couple hundred miles to see real wildlife in Africa, not open air zoo animals. Sad that, with all the natural parks around, she essentially went to a fake one.
From your thread, that is indeed how wild animals react. The tent is a barrier to lions. We did camping in Kroger as well, a park the size of New Jersey. The ranger set up a flexible waist high electric fence around our camp operated by a generator. We slept in tents but were instructed in no uncertain terms to not leave our tents at night. After a few drinks one afternoon the ranger told us "you know, really, the electric fence does nothing. A lion will walk right over it. What really keeps the lions out is the tent. Although just fabric, the lions see it as a wall that they can't get through". Just do not leave that tent at night - night time is the time for predators, not humans.
A footnote here: Lions or tigers aren't even the most lethal animal in South Africa. I think they said it was buffalo if I remember correctly.
I remember reading that hippos kill more people a year than lions! I was shocked when I first read it, as I always thought they were more docile like cows, but then I saw a video of one popping out of the water trying to attack a boat, it got to within inches of the back of the boat. It looked ferocious!
I just saw a story about her on Today. She was a visual effects editor on Game of Thrones, and ironically, was active in trying to raise money for wildlife conservation and to fight poachers, although they didn't specify how.
They also said the guide has his window down, too, even though he wasn't even taking pictures. Again IMO most people do what the guide says is okay even if the signs say differently. As evidenced by Dd714's post above...their guide says it's safe to sleep around lions as long as you're in a tent, and so they slept in the tent and felt fine about it...it is not unusual to put trust into what people who are in charge and who are experienced in a particular environment say is okay and not okay. It doesn't make her stupid, just the decision to trust him, it is not the same thing.
Lions have been known to pull people out of tents and eat them. Documented cases of this. Same with bears
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