Monday, August 27, 2012

In the Village, the Peaceful ENGLISH Village, the Lion Sleeps Tonight?


I couldn't resist including this clip of Straight No Chaser doing a cover of this in connection with the news item below.  A performance featuring this A Capella group was recently featured as part of our public television station's fund drive (give generously!).

Had this occurred earlier, I would have wondered if it was more of the wonderful and quirky sense of humor that had the Queen and James Bond supposedly parachute into the opening ceremonies of the Olympics. Given that the lion is part of the British heraldic arms, both as a charge, and as an heraldic supporter (the figure holding up the escutcheon or shield on which the actual arms appear) in conjunction variously with a unicorn or dragon as opposite side heraldic supporters.  A lion also appears on Scotland's coat of arms, and as a supporter on the arms of Northern Ireland, which is also of course, a part of the UK.  So it wouldn't be a complete stretch for the Queen to be followed around by a lion instead of her Corgis as an Olympic stunt.  The question remains -- who is missing a lion, and how did they not notice it had gone walk-about, and report it?  Given that an experienced German zookeeper was just killed by a captive tiger, it seems an obvious concern that there might be an exotic pet owner dead or injured in the vicinity, for a real lion to be on the prowl as distinct from a stuffed giant catThe Brits do have the occasional fake giant cat scare where they are slightly less phlegmatic in their response.  We shouldn't be too smug - we have our odd sightings and over-reactive responses as well, just not necessarily to giant exotic cats.  However, since this lion apparently roars, it appears to be the real thing, rather than a 'stuffy'.  Let's hope that this lion is only shot with a tranquilizer gun, unlike some of the bad outcomes of people keeping exotic pets, like this one in OhioFinding the proper balance between freedom to do as we like, including taking risks or enjoying / keeping dangerous property with giving adequate regard to the rights of other individuals as well as our larger population and society, is a subject that with exotic animals parallels so many other public policy and legislative discussions in our society. Personally, as someone who has trained to work with both exotic animals as well as domestic livestock and pets, for the well being of the exotic animals, as well as for reasons of safety, I'm inclined to favor stricter limitations on exotics.


England's coat of arms, pre 1340 and post 1340
Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom.svg
Full heraldic arms fo the UK, including a Lion
supporter in sinister (it just means on the left in heraldry)
as well as the English three lions appearing in
two quadrants, and the Scottish lion appearin in a third,
and a lion on the crest

Sorry, but I couldn't resist indulging my heraldry geek; I have esoteric and varied interests, and we can't let conservatives claim they are the only ones who value traditional iconography.  I also couldn't help but notice that despite also contending with terrorist attacks, the UK law enforcement does not routinely carry firearms.

It's so typically stiff-upper-lip Brit to remain unflappable, not even terribly surprised at a lion roaming the neighborhood.

From ITV and NBC news:

Cops hunt lion reportedly on loose near British village

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