Woman on Donkey Beats Lion

That was the headline from a news story today. Here's the full text of the article, from Mexico's English-language daily, "The News:"

*****
A woman claims that she fought a 500-pound lion with a machete near the Pacific resort city of Acapulco and scared him away.

Celsa Aleman said that she and her 7-year-old niece were riding a donkey on Monday along a road when the lion went after the animal's legs.

The 35-year-old woman said she found the courage to fight the lion because she thought it would attack her niece. She hit the animal with a machete until the beast ran away, she said. Both Aleman and her niece escaped unharmed.

The state government said in a statement that the lion had escaped from a private zoo owned by a former local congressman.

It said the animal killed two dogs and ate a pig before it was sedated and taken back to the zoo.
*****

Ok, obviously a wacky news article. But,

1. Who has a private zoo?!
2. This woman just happened to have a machete with her?!

Chris is unsurprised by either point. People in rural areas use machetes for everything here. And a "former local congressman" having enough money to own his own private zoo? Welcome to Mexico....