LAHORE: Eighteen lions illegally kept as pets have been seized by authorities in Pakistan’s Punjab region.
The crackdown follows an incident where a lion escaped from a house in Lahore, attacking a woman and two children.
The woman sustained minor injuries, while the children, aged five and seven, were hospitalized but are in stable condition.
The lion involved in the attack was confiscated and relocated to a safari park. Its owner was arrested for violating wildlife regulations.
Mubeen Elahi, director general of Punjab’s Wildlife and Parks Department, stated that keeping big cats without proper licensing and safety measures is now strictly prohibited.
“No individual is allowed to keep a lion without a licence, without adhering to the required cage size, and without following other standard operating procedures,“ he said. Violators face up to seven years in prison.
The department also raided 38 lion and tiger breeding farms, arresting eight individuals for non-compliance.
Officials plan to inspect all such facilities by the end of the week. Punjab currently has 584 lions and tigers in private homes and breeding farms.
The trend of keeping exotic animals as pets has grown due to social media, where owners flaunt them as status symbols.
Qaim Ali, 30, a former lion owner, said, “Most of them are not interested in breeding but keep them as a symbol of power and influence in society.” - Reuters
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