Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Lions in Arkansas

Don't know if any of you saw this... 4 shot total to date. 2 taken with a 30-06.
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<br>Four lions killed near Arkansas town; more may be loose
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<br>Associated Press
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<br>Published Sep 24, 2002
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<br>QUITMAN, Ark. -- Lisa Vaughan says her log cabin in the woods was so peaceful that sometimes the only sound that could be heard was the trees swaying in the wind.
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<br>Now she's listening for lions.
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<br>In the past week, four 600- to 800-pound African lions believed to have some connection to a nearby exotic animal farm have been killed near this central Arkansas town. And residents say the terror may not be over, because no one knows for sure whether more lions are on the loose.
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<br>``I had a terrible headache and my blood pressure has been up. ... It's been a long ordeal,'' said Vaughan, whose husband, Johnny, killed two of the lions with his .30-06 rifle.
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<br>``Everybody is scared around here,'' added neighbor Arvil Skinner. ``People have to sit out with a high-powered rifle just to let their kids play in the yard.
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<br>``That's just how serious it is. It might be all right and it might not. They might still be out there. We just don't know.''
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<br>The Vaughans believe the lions belong to animal farm operator Steve Henning, who moved in on the other side of the patch of trees almost a year ago with 11 African lions, 30 tigers, five mountain lions and a lynx.
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<br>Henning says the lions killed in the woods were not his. He speculates that someone who tried to give him lions last week turned them loose on the 44-acre property of Safari Unlimited, the lion and tiger farm he operates. The farm is not open to the public, Henning said.
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<br>Aside from the pens where Henning keeps his cats, the property is not fully fenced.
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<br>Neighbors expressed disbelief over Henning's response.
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<br>``That really blows my mind how anyone could believe that story,'' Lisa Vaughan said.
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<br>Henning was not able to give Cleburne County sheriff's deputies or Arkansas Game and Fish officials the name of a person they could track down, authorities said.
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<br>``Mr. Henning told us the guy goes by different names and he doesn't know where he lives,'' Deputy Jack Allen said.
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<br>Sheriff Dudley Lemon inspected Safari Unlimited and said he thinks Henning is telling the truth. But he added that believing Henning's story does mean more big cats could be roaming the woods.
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<br>Johnny Vaughan said he will be the first to apologize to Henning if it's proven the lions that have been killed didn't belong to him. But he and his neighbors around this town of 700 want local laws amended so that Henning can't keep lions and tigers in their neighborhood.
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<br>``We've got to try and pass something to not only protect the people, but to protect the animals,'' Vaughan said. ``It's sad to think that someone can have that many animals but they don't need some sort of license.''
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I saw that on the news. Don't know if the guy is being truthful or not. Could be that some one did dump them. Anyway, that sure would make for an interesting deer season. I can hear it now, well, Buba I was a sittin' there in my deer stand and up walks this big ol' cat lookin' critter so I just gave em' a dose of the ol' thurty thurty and things got real intersting right quick.........

600-800 lb lions sure sound big. I thought they typically went 350-500.
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<br>Blaine

A huge male lion will be struggling to get to 500 pounds. More common 400 pounds. A Tiger can go to 650-750 pounds but they will also struggle to make 800 pounds. Tigers are quite a lot bigger then lions. For anyone to suggest a lion would be up to 800 pounds is really streeeeeeetching the truth!

Heck a 30-06 should be plenty for a Lion I would think. Hell a of a suprise if you are out looking for Bambi though!
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<br>We have a FL Panther and several Bobcats that wander by every now and again. Gotta keep the cats and dogs in at night if you want to keep them. Was worse out in NM though, the Coyotes would eat any small pets left out at night for sure. And had Black Bears in the back yard several times, one even tried to come in the back porch one time but left when I put the light on it.
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<br>My son worked for Animal Control here for awhile and they actually caught a Tiger in a trailer park. It was so worn down from not eating it was easy for them to catch, but scared the hell out of the old folks.

My in-laws just moved from near there last fall to be closer to us here in Tennessee. I guess it's a good thing they did.

Depends on how much you love your mother in law Delta, now I couldn't think of a better use for mine than lion bait.
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<br>BCR

I'm aquainted with a couple in NC who were once heavily involved with exotic animal rescue. At one time they fell heir to a pair of tiger cubs. They built a compound and raised and cared for the tigers until they eventually died of old age. Here's a rather striking photo.
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<br>Terri and Babe

BCR, that was a good one. My mother in law is fine (she can really cook), it's my father in law that I have little use for. I've never met a more negative and pessimistic person in my life. More importantly, though, he's not a hunter, so we have little in common.

Delta,
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<br>We aren't married to sisters are we? Sounds like you are describing my father-in-law. Just through in some $1.00 a pack smelly old cigarettes and its him.
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<br>2nd

Not unless my wife has a sister she doesn't know about. She's an only child. Maybe we could get out fathers-in-law together. They might just hit it off.

People travel all the way to Africa and pay thousands of dollars to hunt lions. I bet you could go after these for free. Any volunteers.

Sounds like a whole lot of folks whose problems are all relative...
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<br>Ran into a group of fellas going bear hunting at a boat launch quite a few years ago. They waited until a small crowd had gathered, waiting for them to get out of the way so they could launch their own boats, and one of the three pulled out some custom-printed shirts for the party with some goofy "club" name on the breast pockets.
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<br>Last guy pulled his on and posed in it... totally unaware of the huge, bright yellow letters across his back.... "B-A-I-T".... the amazing part is that no one said anything, just allowed them to go about getting out of the way...
<br>art

I would sure hate to be out hunting those tree bouncing little critters with my trusty 20 gauge and run into one of those lions in the woods. The very thought of that could make a man age 10 years or at least 2yrs.
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