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Lion bit: ‘I nearly lost my hand’ — Wales rugby star Scott Baldwin reveals

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WARNING GRAPHIC IMAGE: After sharing a horror snap of the bite Osprey’s hooker, 29, added: ‘It felt as though I was staring into its soul’

Wakes hooker Scott Baldwin says he’s lucky to still have both hands after being bitten by a LION.

The Ospreys player shared the graphic result of the bite he suffered when petting the big beast at a South African game park last month.

The bite was caught on camera as Baldwin stroked the giant cat through a fence.

And Baldwin, who returned to action with Ospreys at the weekend, has now lifted the lid on what was like when the king of the jungle clasped his jaws around him.

The 29-year-old said: “When you see the video it looks very quick, but for me it felt like a lifetime, it felt as though I was staring into its soul.

“They told me I could lose my hand, I had to have four operations and I missed three matches with the Ospreys. And it was all self-inflicted.

“I had two operations in South Africa, flew home with an IV drip in my arm and then had another two at home. At one stage I was told I would need plastic surgery and could lose my left hand.

A lion turned on Scott Baldwin at a zoo in South Africa (Image: Twitter)
Scott Baldwin’s gruesome wound before and after stitches (Image: @scottbaldwin2/Twitter)

“I think it only hit me how lucky I was when I was in bed the other night. When someone says you can lose your hand, instantly your career is gone.

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“I’m a new father, so it made me think about all the things I might not have been able to do with my son and how I might not have been able to earn a living without my dominant hand – all those things went through my head.

“That really put things into perspective for me and made me realise how very lucky I was.”

Baldwin has always loved lions and wild animals and had earlier spent an hour playing with some lion cubs. Then he got the once in a lifetime opportunity to get up close and personal with some adult lions.

The Wales star was bitten during a visit to a game park (Image: Twitter)

“I petted the female one, with no issues, and when the male sat down I stroked him on his head. Then, silly me, I turned round to give one of the boys my phone to take a picture and, being the king of the jungle, he took his bite,” recalled Baldwin.

The injury suffered by Baldwin after he was bitten is positively gruesome.

Baldwin showed the state of his wound, in its original state and closed by stitches, after four operations.

“3 games missed, 4 ops later & not the result we wanted yesterday but good to be back out with the boys Live&learn LuckyEscape,” he said on social media after his club side were beaten 19-18 by Scarlets in Saturday’s Guinness Pro14 match.

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The lion initially allowed Baldwin to stroke it (Image: Twitter)

Scott has apologised to Ospreys fans after the incident at the Bloemfontein zoo.

One of the lions turned its head and clamps its jaws around his arm before sinking his teeth in.

The men begin to scream and run backwards before sighing with relief when Badlwin manages to break free.

A member of staff tells the player to go and get first aid while the man behind the camera begins to nervously laugh.

Baldwin was in South Africa for their Pro14 game against the Cheetahs, who won 44-25.

Scott, 29, was taken to hospital to receive stitches and treatment against infection.

Coach Steve Tandy had no sympathy for his player, suggesting Baldwin had ignored instruction and attempted to pet the animal.

“There was an incident with a lion, but in fairness it was nothing to do with the lion,” he said in a press conference.

The moment the lion sunk a jaw into the rugby player’s hand (Image: Twitter)
Balwin was bitten on the hand and suffered a nasty wound (Image: Media Wales)

“He did bite Scott but when you put your hand in a fence where there is a lion, then you will get bitten.

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“It was pretty stupid on Scott’s behalf and he is pretty lucky. It was a good environment and we were told how far back to stand.

“I don’t know what sort of wildlife show Scott has been watching where you can pat a lion on the head as if it’s a kitten.”

Baldwin in action for Wales against Scotland (Image: AFP)

Badlwin then apologised to fans on Twitter.

“Sorry all Ospreys fans for letting you and the team down by missing the game through the bite,” he said.

“Should of known he wouldn’t be impressed with me stroking his lioness before introducing myself to him first. My bad.

“And for those asking my hand in on the mend thankfully & should be up & running round soon enough thanks for your support and concern.”

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Crime & Court

Osun police arrest three night guards over alleged murder of 40-year-old man

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A night guard at Ibuowo Estate, Okinni, Egbedore Local Government Area of Osun State, on Saturday, allegedly shot dead a 40-year-old man, Badmus Mohammed.

The guard, Rasaq Moshood, DAILY POST gathered, shot Mohammed, a tenant, who is popularly called Lasgidi dead with his dane gun.

His Landlord, Kazeem Jimoh told DAILY POST that he was at a bar with the deceased till midnight on Friday, before he was called on phone about his death.

According to Kazeem, his tenant was killed at the front of the house, while his door was left open.

“I and Kazeem were at a bar till past 12 when I left him.

“I didn’t sleep at home but I got a call around 1 a.m. that Lasgidi was killed by a guard. When i got home, I saw his door open, while his corpse was outside,” he said.

The Police spokesperson, SP Yemisi Opalola confirmed the incident.

She noted that three night guards have been arrested with their dane guns.

According to her, “one Babatunde Olumide, the Chairman of Ibuowo Estate Okinni reported at dada Estate Divisional Police Hqts., that their night guard, one Moshood Rasaq used his dane gun to shoot one Mohammed Badmus, aged 40 years and he died instantly.

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“Suspect has been arrested, gun used has been recovered, while the corpse has been taken to UNIOSUN Teaching Hospital morgue for autopsy.”

Opalola added that the case had been transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID) for further investigation.

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Chinese astronauts return to earth after six months in space

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Officials stand near the capsule of the Shenzhou-13 spacecraft after it returned to earth carrying three Chinese astronauts in China’s Inner Mongolia on April 16, 2022. STR / AFP

Three Chinese astronauts returned to Earth on Saturday after 183 days in space, ending China’s longest crewed mission as it continues its quest to become a major space power.

The Shenzhou-13 spacecraft was the latest mission in Beijing’s drive to rival the United States, after landing a rover on Mars and sending probes to the Moon.

Live footage from state broadcaster CCTV showed the capsule landing in a cloud of dust, with the ground crew who had kept clear of the landing site rushing in helicopters to reach the capsule.

The two men and one woman — Zhai Zhigang, Ye Guangfu and Wang Yaping — returned to Earth shortly before 10 am Beijing time (0200 GMT), after six months aboard the Tianhe core module of China’s Tiangong space station.

Ground crew applauded as the astronauts each took turns to report that they were in good physical condition.

Zhai was the first to emerge from the capsule roughly 45 minutes after the landing, waving and grinning at cameras as he was lifted by the ground crew into a specially designed chair before being bundled into a blanket.

“I’m proud of our heroic country,” Zhai said in an interview with CCTV shortly after leaving the capsule. “I feel extremely good.”

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The trio originally launched in the Shenzhou-13 from China’s northwestern Gobi Desert last October, as the second of four crewed missions during 2021-2022 sent to assemble the country’s first permanent space station — Tiangong, which means “heavenly palace.”

Wang became the first Chinese woman to spacewalk last November, as she and her colleague Zhai installed space station equipment during a six-hour stint.

Mission commander Zhai, 55, is a former fighter pilot who performed China’s first spacewalk in 2008, while Ye is a People’s Liberation Army pilot.

The trio have completed two spacewalks, carried out numerous scientific experiments, set up equipment and tested technologies for future construction during their time in orbit.

The astronauts spent the past few weeks tidying up and preparing the cabin facilities and equipment for the crew of the incoming Shenzhou-14, expected to be launched in the coming months.

China’s previous record spaceflight mission length was set by last year’s Shenzhou-12 deployment, which lasted 92 days.

Six months will become the normal astronaut residence period aboard the Chinese space station, according to state broadcaster CCTV.

Space race

The world’s second-largest economy has poured billions into its military-run space programme, with hopes of having a permanently crewed space station by 2022 and eventually sending humans to the Moon.

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The country has come a long way in catching up with the United States and Russia, whose astronauts and cosmonauts have decades of experience in space exploration.

But under Chinese President Xi Jinping, the country’s plans for its heavily-promoted “space dream” have been put into overdrive.

Besides a space station, Beijing is also planning to build a base on the Moon, and the country’s National Space Administration said it aims to launch a crewed lunar mission by 2029.

China has been excluded from the International Space Station since 2011 when the US banned NASA from engaging with the country.

While China does not plan to use its space station for global cooperation on the scale of the ISS, Beijing has said it is open to foreign collaboration although the scope of that cooperation is not yet clear.

The ISS is due for retirement after 2024, although NASA has said it could remain functional until 2030.

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Putin’s Russia finally invades Ukraine

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Black smoke rises from a military airport in Chuguyev near Kharkiv on February 24, 2022.(Photo by Aris Messinis / AFP)

Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a military operation in Ukraine on Thursday with explosions heard soon after across the country and its foreign minister warning a “full-scale invasion” was underway.

Weeks of intense diplomacy and the imposition of Western sanctions on Russia failed to deter Putin, who had massed between 150,000 and 200,000 troops along the borders of Ukraine.

“I have made the decision of a military operation,” Putin said in a surprise television announcement that triggered immediate condemnation from US President Joe Biden and sent global financial markets into turmoil.

Shortly after the announcement, explosions were heard in Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, and several other cities, according to AFP correspondents.

Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks during his address to the nation at the Kremlin in Moscow on February 21, 2022. Alexey NIKOLSKY / Sputnik / AFP

 

Putin called on Ukrainian soldiers to lay down their arms and justified the operation by claiming the government was overseeing a “genocide” in the east of the country.

The Kremlin had earlier said rebel leaders in eastern Ukraine had asked Moscow for military help against Kyiv.

The extent of Thursday’s attacks was not immediately clear, but Ukraine Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said the worst-case scenario was playing out.

“Putin has just launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Peaceful Ukrainian cities are under strikes,” Kuleba tweeted.

“This is a war of aggression. Ukraine will defend itself and will win. The world can and must stop Putin. The time to act is now.”

Biden immediately warned of “consequences” for Russia and that there would be a “catastrophic loss of life and human suffering”.

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NATO’s chief condemned Russia’s “reckless and unprovoked attack” on Ukraine.

Putin’s move came after Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky made an emotional appeal late on Wednesday night to Russians not to support a “major war in Europe”.

Speaking Russian, Zelensky said that the people of Russia were being lied to about Ukraine.

Zelensky said he had tried to call Putin but there was “no answer, only silence”, adding that Moscow now had around 200,000 soldiers near Ukraine’s borders.

Earlier on Wednesday the separatist leaders of Donetsk and Lugansk sent separate letters to Putin, asking him to “help them repel Ukraine’s aggression”, Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

The two letters were published by Russian state media and were both dated February 22.

Their appeals came after Putin recognised their independence and signed friendship treaties with them that include defence deals.

– ‘Moment of peril’ –

Putin had for weeks defied a barrage of international criticism over the crisis, with some Western leaders saying he was no longer rational.

His announcement of the military operation came ahead of a last-ditch summit involving European Union leaders in Brussels planned for Thursday.

The 27-nation bloc had also imposed sanctions on Russia’s defence minister Sergei Shoigu and high-ranking figures including the commanders of Russia’s army, navy and air force, another part of the wave of Western punishment after Putin sought to rewrite Ukraine’s borders.

The United Nations Security Council met late Wednesday for its second emergency session in three days over the crisis, with a personal plea there by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to Putin going unheeded.

“President Putin, stop your troops from attacking Ukraine, give peace a chance, too many people have already died,” Guterres said.

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The US ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, warned that an all-out Russian invasion could displace five million people, triggering a new European refugee crisis.

Before Putin’s announcement, Ukraine had urged its approximately three million citizens living in Russia to leave.

“We are united in believing that the future of European security is being decided right now, here in our home, in Ukraine,” President Zelensky said during a joint media appearance with the visiting leaders of Poland and Lithuania.

Western capitals said Russia had amassed 150,000 troops in combat formations on Ukraine’s borders with Russia, Belarus and Russian-occupied Crimea and on warships in the Black Sea.

Ukraine has around 200,000 military personnel, and could call up to 250,000 reservists.

Moscow’s total forces are much larger — around a million active-duty personnel — and have been modernised and re-armed in recent years.

 

– High cost of war –

But Ukraine has received advanced anti-tank weapons and some drones from NATO members. More have been promised as the allies try to deter a Russian attack or at least make it costly.

Shelling had intensified in recent days between Ukrainian forces and Russia-backed separatists — a Ukrainian soldier was killed on Wednesday, the sixth in four days — and civilians living near the front were fearful.

Dmitry Maksimenko, a 27-year-old coal miner from government-held Krasnogorivka, told AFP that he was shocked when his wife came to tell him that Putin had recognised the two Russian-backed separatist enclaves.

“She said: ‘Have you heard the news?’. How could I have known? There’s no electricity, never mind internet. I don’t know what is going to happen next, but to be honest, I’m afraid,” he said.

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In a Russian village around 50 kilometres (30 miles) from the border, AFP reporters saw military equipment including rocket launchers, howitzers and fuel tanks mounted on trains stretching for hundreds of metres.

Russia has long demanded that Ukraine be forbidden from ever joining the NATO alliance and that US troops pull out from Eastern Europe.

Speaking to journalists, Putin on Tuesday set out a number of stringent conditions if the West wanted to de-escalate the crisis, saying Ukraine should drop its NATO ambition and become neutral.

Washington Wednesday announced sanctions on the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, which Germany had earlier effectively suspended by halting certification.

Australia, Britain, Japan and the European Union have all also announced sanctions.

 

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