tv star collector
09-17-2008, 01:44 PM
BOLIVAR PENINSULA, Texas (AP) -- Many years from now, a small group of
Hurricane Ike survivors will probably still be telling the story of how, on the
night the storm flattened their island, they took sanctuary in a church -- with a lion.
The full-grown lion was from a local zoo, and the owner was trying to drive to
safety with the animal when he saw cars and trucks stranded in the rising
floodwaters. He knew he and the lion were in trouble.
He headed for the church and was met by a group of residents who helped the lion wade inside, where they locked it in a sanctuary as the storm raged.
The water crept up to their waists, and two-by-fours came floating through
broken windows. But the lion was as calm as a kitten.
When daylight came, everyone was still alive.
"They worked pretty well together, actually," said the lion's owner, Michael
Ray Kujawa. "When you have to swim, the lion doesn't care about eating
nobody."
At the Baptist church on Bolivar Island where the lion spent the night, Richard
Jones, a shrimper, said he wasn't afraid of the beast.
"That little old fella is just as tame as a kitten," Jones said.
After the storm passed, the lion's caretakers fed it pork roast to keep it happy. National Guardsmen dropping off food and water lined up Tuesday in
the choir loft to get a glimpse of the lion, and the soldiers jumped back when
the lion looked up from its perch on the altar and snarled.
-- Allen G. Breed
Hurricane Ike survivors will probably still be telling the story of how, on the
night the storm flattened their island, they took sanctuary in a church -- with a lion.
The full-grown lion was from a local zoo, and the owner was trying to drive to
safety with the animal when he saw cars and trucks stranded in the rising
floodwaters. He knew he and the lion were in trouble.
He headed for the church and was met by a group of residents who helped the lion wade inside, where they locked it in a sanctuary as the storm raged.
The water crept up to their waists, and two-by-fours came floating through
broken windows. But the lion was as calm as a kitten.
When daylight came, everyone was still alive.
"They worked pretty well together, actually," said the lion's owner, Michael
Ray Kujawa. "When you have to swim, the lion doesn't care about eating
nobody."
At the Baptist church on Bolivar Island where the lion spent the night, Richard
Jones, a shrimper, said he wasn't afraid of the beast.
"That little old fella is just as tame as a kitten," Jones said.
After the storm passed, the lion's caretakers fed it pork roast to keep it happy. National Guardsmen dropping off food and water lined up Tuesday in
the choir loft to get a glimpse of the lion, and the soldiers jumped back when
the lion looked up from its perch on the altar and snarled.
-- Allen G. Breed