Lion on the Loose! Oh Wait, it’s Just a Cat [WTF Friday]

By Ellen Scott

Amidst all the naked photos of Prince Harry, I think we all neglected to notice a much more important British news story. Last week, residents of the English town of Essex (right next door to my hometown, yay!) reported multiple sightings of a huge lion roaming through the city. Police officers were deployed after seeing a photo of the lion, and began searching for the dangerous beast using police helicopters and heat-seeking equipment. It started to be a pretty big deal in the UK – the police thought the lion may have escaped from a nearby circus, and people kept claiming that they were hearing loud roars, so it seemed pretty legit. Someone even made an Essex lion twitter account making fun of typical Essex residents (it’s hilarious, watch British reality show ‘The Only Way is Essex’ to see why)…

So imagine the public embarrassment when the animal we were so freaked out about turned out to be a fluffy pet cat named Teddy Bear. To be fair, Teddy Bear is a rather big maine coon cat, but that doesn’t exactly justify people running away from him screaming ‘it’s a f***ing lion!’. Thanks guys, for making England look silly yet again.

Oh, and if anyone happens to be visiting Essex and spots this terrifying beast, be sure to give him a good tummy rub; apparently he’s ‘an affectionate cat that loves having a good stroke’. Scary.