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Daily Express
14-07-2025
- Daily Express
Juvenile croc captured beneath Sandakan home
Published on: Monday, July 14, 2025 Published on: Mon, Jul 14, 2025 By: Winnie Kasmir Text Size: The 15-kilogram crocodile was captured within 25 minutes. SANDAKAN: A juvenile crocodile was captured under a house at the Sim-Sim Low-Cost Housing Scheme here on Sunday evening. Sandakan Civil Defence Force officer Sulaiman Salama said an emergency call was received at 6.47pm and a team of seven was dispatched. The personnel reached the site at 7.12pm and safely secured the 15-kilogram reptile within 25 minutes. No one was harmed in the operation, which ended at 8.19pm, and the animal will be handed to the Wildlife Department for further action. * Follow us on our official WhatsApp channel and Telegram for breaking news alerts and key updates! * Do you have access to the Daily Express e-paper and online exclusive news? Check out subscription plans available. Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express's Telegram channel. Daily Express Malaysia
ABC News
11-07-2025
- Politics
- ABC News
Pakistan cracks down on illegal lion ownership after escaped pet mauls woman and two kids
Pakistani authorities say they have confiscated 18 lions kept illegally as pets in Punjab province following a public outcry after an escaped pet lion mauled a woman and two children on a street in Lahore. The woman suffered scratches and bruises in the attack last week, while two children aged five and seven were hospitalised with non-life-threatening injuries. The owner of the lion was arrested. Experts say it is a mammoth task to stifle exotic big cat ownership in Pakistan, which has proliferated over the past decade thanks in part to social media. Punjab's Wildlife and Parks Department says there are 584 lions and tigers in homes and breeding farms across the province. Hira Jaleel, a visiting assistant professor at the United States Centre for Animal Law Studies, has worked on animal-related legal issues in Pakistan. Ms Jaleel said illegal wildlife ownership was prolific. She said many of the big cats were kept in unsavoury conditions. "It obviously leads to really poor welfare for these animals, especially when they're being kept in people's backyards, being declawed, perpetually sedated and used as photo ops," she said. The painful process of declawing — amputating the last digital bone in cubs — is associated with increased biting and aggression but is often undertaken to make pet animals more "harmless". Even so, because of their large size, lions are sometimes kept drugged to keep them placid. Some say keeping exotic animals as pets is a trend fuelled by social media — but it has historic roots. A tiger is the election symbol for one of the three major political parties in Pakistan, the Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PMLN), whose founder — Nawaz Sharif — has served as Pakistan's prime minister for three terms, and the animals are often seen at political rallies. "People were bringing tigers and lions to political rallies and it became a way of showing solidarity with the ruling party or your political affiliation," Ms Jaleel said. Big cats have also become social media fodder in recent decades, with owners flaunting the pets as a symbol of luxury and wealth. Some are used as props for wedding photos, and cubs are sometimes given as gifts. In March 2022, a video showing a TikTok celebrity being swiped at by a colleague's pet lion, which had to be restrained, went viral. WWF Pakistan senior director of conservation Rab Nawaz said influencers played an important role in the conversation around big cat ownership in Pakistan. "That's half the battle, to make the public understand what goes on in the background, how the animals are kept," he said. "If the public is behind us or behind the department, it will be very easy to stop. "Because people will not be buying those animals if they realise the suffering they go through and the danger they pose to the public at large." In January a Pakistani YouTuber with 5 million subscribers was ordered to create 12 animal welfare videos as punishment for illegally owning a lion cub. "It was a novel way of actually punishing him. And I think perhaps it did work," Mr Nawaz said. New regulations introduced this year stipulate individuals can keep a pet lion if they pay a fee to obtain a licence and adhere to the required cage size. The punishment for keeping a lion without a licence is up to seven years in jail. In recent days, the Punjab government has also said it will enforce the sterilisation of lions, tigers and leopards kept in private possession. But Ms Jaleel said enforcement was difficult and a patchwork of provincial laws that allowed exotic pet ownership to various extents had hindered any attempts to regulate lion ownership in the past. "There is just this loophole where the wildlife department is best positioned to exercise authority over these animals but actually doesn't really have authority under the law to do so," she said. Rehoming confiscated lions also poses a significant challenge because African lions are not indigenous to the Indian subcontinent and cannot be released into the wild. Lions are sent to safari parks and zoos, which have seen an influx of big cats in recent years, many confiscated from private owners. Ms Jaleel said it was a problem that Pakistan could no longer ignore. "The proliferation of big cats in the country has become a problem that is just out of control at this point. The wildlife department knows it, the federal government knows it, people know it," she said. "So really, the question is: How many more lions and people have to suffer before something's actually done about it?"
Times of Oman
08-07-2025
- Times of Oman
Pakistan: Authorities seize 18 lions kept as pets
Pakistani authorities confiscated eighteen lions kept illegally as pets in the densely populated Punjab region during a targeted operation, provincial officials said Monday. Authorities launched a crackdown after a lion escaped from a house in Lahore, the capital of Punjab province, and attacked a woman and two children. The incident, which took place last week, was captured on video. None of the people suffered life-threatening injuries, according to provincial officials. The lion, which was kept without a license in a house in Lahore, was confiscated. The lion was sent to a local safari park, according to Mubeen Elahi, director general of the provincial Wildlife and Parks Department. Police said the owner was arrested. Keeping big pets considered a status symbol Keeping a lion at home without following the legal requirements for ownership of big cats is an offense punishable by up to seven years in jail, Elahi told the Reuters news agency. As well as confiscating the 18 animals, the department raided 38 lion and tiger breeding farms and arrested eight people for violating the rules, he said. There are more than 500 lions and tigers in homes and breeding farms in Punjab, Elahi said, adding they would be inspected by the end of the week.
Al Arabiya
07-07-2025
- Al Arabiya
Pakistan confiscates 18 lions kept as pets in crackdown after attack
Eighteen lions kept illegally as pets have been confiscated in Pakistan's Punjab region, authorities said on Monday as they launched a crackdown after one escaped from a house and attacked a woman and two children. The woman suffered scratches and bruises, and the two children, aged five and seven, were hospitalized after the attack last week but their injuries were not life-threatening, provincial wildlife officials said. The lion, which was kept without a license in a house in Lahore, was confiscated and sent to a local safari park, said Mubeen Elahi, director general of the provincial Wildlife and Parks Department. The owner was later arrested, police said. Keeping exotic animals as pets has been fueled by social media, with owners often showing off their animals online as status symbols. 'According to the new regulations for keeping big cats, no individual is allowed to keep a lion without a license, without adhering to the required cage size, and without following other standard operating procedures,' Elahi said. The punishment is up to seven years in jail. As well as confiscating the 18 animals, the department raided 38 lion and tiger breeding farms and arrested eight people for violating the rules, he said, adding that all farms will be inspected by the end of this week. There are 584 lions and tigers in homes and breeding farms in Punjab, Pakistan's most populous province, he said. 'I know plenty of people who keep big cats as pets,' said Qaim Ali, 30, who himself had a lion but sold it after it attacked his nephew. 'Most of them are not interested in breeding but keep them as a symbol of power and influence in society.'
Arab News
07-07-2025
- Arab News
Pakistan confiscates 18 lions kept as pets in crackdown after attack
LAHORE: Eighteen lions kept illegally as pets have been confiscated in Pakistan's Punjab region, authorities said on Monday as they launched a crackdown after one escaped from a house and attacked a woman and two children. The woman suffered scratches and bruises, and the two children, aged five and seven, were hospitalized after the attack last week but their injuries were not life-threatening, provincial wildlife officials said. The lion, which was kept without a license in a house in Lahore, was confiscated and sent to a local safari park, said Mubeen Elahi, director general of the provincial Wildlife and Parks Department. The owner was later arrested, police said. Keeping exotic animals as pets has been fueled by social media, with owners often showing off their animals online as status symbols. 'According to the new regulations for keeping big cats, no individual is allowed to keep a lion without a license, without adhering to the required cage size, and without following other standard operating procedures,' Elahi said. The punishment is up to seven years in jail. As well as confiscating the 18 animals, the department raided 38 lion and tiger breeding farms and arrested eight people for violating the rules, he said, adding that all farms will be inspected by the end of this week. There are 584 lions and tigers in homes and breeding farms in Punjab, Pakistan's most populous province, he said. 'I know plenty of people who keep big cats as pets,' said Qaim Ali, 30, who himself had a lion but sold it after it attacked his nephew. 'Most of them are not interested in breeding but keep them as a symbol of power and influence in society.'
