The year is 2022, the day is 5th May… Franklin Murimi—a farmhand in one of the homesteads in Mutiribu Village in Kiangui, Imenti South, Meru South—wakes up early morning around 6 am, as is his tradition.

Murimi takes his machete ready to start his daily chores around the compound. But in the midst of all his thoughts, trying to picture how his day will be, his machete falls.

He bends down to pick the tool critical to his work, but as he picks it, he spots something strange, scary and shocking—a lion staring directly at him.

It is at this point that Murimi jolts out with fear to alert neighbours. Locals in the area, gripped with panic and fear, inform the area chief, while others make frantic calls to the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS).

But wait a minute! One curious and brave local approaches the lion from the rear to scrutinise it with a different angle. It is at this point that he realises that the said lion does not have a body. A much closer angle, and Voilà!

By the time the locals realise that what they thought was a lion was not a big cat but an image of a big lion printed on a carrier bag, KWS officers had already arrived at the scene.

“When I went there, I also believed it was a live lion. We kept a distance and out of fear we could not realise that it was a mere drawing. Our fears were buttressed by the fact that there has been a marauding wild animal that has killed many sheep in neighboring Igoji East,” Kiangui Assistant Chief Basti Mwandiki told TV47 Digital at the time.

The local administrator added: “The officers had to climb to the rooftop of a nearby house to get a closer look. This is when they discovered that it was not a wild animal much to the relief of locals.”

But the KWS officials were actually impressed by the locals’ quick and proactive initiative.

“Despite this being a false alarm, we laud the public for raising an alarm in order to mitigate a possible conflict,” the Service noted, perhaps laveraging on this funny situation to educate the public. “Kindly call our hotline/Toll Free number 0800 597 000 for assistance & reporting of any wildlife emergency”

“We also urge the residents of Meru to Zuru Meru National Park & enjoy the magnificent wildlife the park has to offer such as Lions, the endangered Grevy’s Zebra & many more,” KWS added.

Kenyans reacted to the story in a funnily way, with others implying that the villagers — found in a county that is synonymous to miraa planting — had consumed their own cash crop.