popo
05-04-2004, 07:24 AM
Never thought I would have to chase a lion in my 12 years as a Police Officer.
After a long day on the road, Jack Dingess thought his eyes were fooling him: That golden thing crouched under a trailer of a truck. Was that a lion?
He was seeing straight. A Columbus police officer had seen what was thought to be the same animal an hour earlier, just about a mile north.
A 350-pound female lion was on the loose in Gahanna and Jefferson Township last night, Gahanna Deputy Police Chief Larry Rinehart confirmed, although its origin was a mystery.
"Now I’ve seen everything," said Dingess, 41. "A lion in Gahanna. I’m tripping out."
Dingess was returning to Best Courier, 1200 Technology Dr., about 9 p.m. when he saw the animal in the parking lot behind the building. At first, he thought it was a deer, but a 4-foot-long tail convinced him otherwise.
About an hour earlier, a Columbus police officer was stopped in his cruiser near Taylor Road when the lion bounded from the east side of Taylor Station Road to the west side.
Rinehart said residents of the Rathburn Woods and Hunter Ridge subdivisions should be alert, close their garages and keep their dogs and cats in.
"They didn’t teach me about wild game at the academy," he said. Until yesterday, his experience had been limited to the Golden Lions of Gahanna Lincoln High School.
Evelyn Shaw, a Pataskalabased animal expert who was called in to help, tentatively identified the animal as a black mane African lion.
Gahanna police also called the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium and will have experts come in to help capture the lion, if it’s still on the loose today. In the meantime, officers would shoot to kill, Rinehart said.
"That’s all we’re equipped for — deadly force."
A Columbus police helicopter was called in last night to help find the lion. Officers from Gahanna milled about, shotguns and rifles in hand.
Mayor Becky Stinchcomb had been in a council meeting when she was told about the lion.
"At first, I told him to repeat it — a lion? This is one for my memoirs. Of course, first and foremost we’re concerned for the safety of the public."
Stinchcomb said she had been skeptical because of another recent report about a lion. It turned out to be a Great Dane.
"It will be difficult to get him tonight," she said last night. "We may have to try again tomorrow."
Outside the police tape at the scene of the first lion sighting, Mark Holderby, 39, was trying to get to his home in Taylor Estates just down the road.
He settled for a cell-phone call to his wife.
"Get in the house. Get the kids in the house," he told her.
After hanging up, he said: "We’ve never had a lion. A turkey, a few deer? Sure."
After a long day on the road, Jack Dingess thought his eyes were fooling him: That golden thing crouched under a trailer of a truck. Was that a lion?
He was seeing straight. A Columbus police officer had seen what was thought to be the same animal an hour earlier, just about a mile north.
A 350-pound female lion was on the loose in Gahanna and Jefferson Township last night, Gahanna Deputy Police Chief Larry Rinehart confirmed, although its origin was a mystery.
"Now I’ve seen everything," said Dingess, 41. "A lion in Gahanna. I’m tripping out."
Dingess was returning to Best Courier, 1200 Technology Dr., about 9 p.m. when he saw the animal in the parking lot behind the building. At first, he thought it was a deer, but a 4-foot-long tail convinced him otherwise.
About an hour earlier, a Columbus police officer was stopped in his cruiser near Taylor Road when the lion bounded from the east side of Taylor Station Road to the west side.
Rinehart said residents of the Rathburn Woods and Hunter Ridge subdivisions should be alert, close their garages and keep their dogs and cats in.
"They didn’t teach me about wild game at the academy," he said. Until yesterday, his experience had been limited to the Golden Lions of Gahanna Lincoln High School.
Evelyn Shaw, a Pataskalabased animal expert who was called in to help, tentatively identified the animal as a black mane African lion.
Gahanna police also called the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium and will have experts come in to help capture the lion, if it’s still on the loose today. In the meantime, officers would shoot to kill, Rinehart said.
"That’s all we’re equipped for — deadly force."
A Columbus police helicopter was called in last night to help find the lion. Officers from Gahanna milled about, shotguns and rifles in hand.
Mayor Becky Stinchcomb had been in a council meeting when she was told about the lion.
"At first, I told him to repeat it — a lion? This is one for my memoirs. Of course, first and foremost we’re concerned for the safety of the public."
Stinchcomb said she had been skeptical because of another recent report about a lion. It turned out to be a Great Dane.
"It will be difficult to get him tonight," she said last night. "We may have to try again tomorrow."
Outside the police tape at the scene of the first lion sighting, Mark Holderby, 39, was trying to get to his home in Taylor Estates just down the road.
He settled for a cell-phone call to his wife.
"Get in the house. Get the kids in the house," he told her.
After hanging up, he said: "We’ve never had a lion. A turkey, a few deer? Sure."