The Cambodian authorities confiscated a Chinese pet lion because it was seen hugging and bathing in a villa in Phnom Penh in a TikTok video. (Photo by AFP/Ministry of Environment of Cambodia)
The Cambodian authorities confiscated a pet lion of a Chinese citizen on Sunday because it was seen hugging and bathing in a villa in Phnom Penh in a TikTok video.
Neth Pheaktra, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Environment, told AFP that the 18-month-old male weighed 70 kilograms and was imported from overseas by his owner and raised at home.
“Since we saw this lion on TikTok in late April, the Cambodian authorities have started investigating it,” Pheaktra said.
The owner shared a photo of a lion sitting in a driveway on the app, with a dog playing next to it.
There is also a video showing a cub being sprayed down by a hose.
Fiktra said:
People have no right to keep rare wild animals as pets.
A photo released by the Ministry of Environment on Sunday shows that the authorities are preparing a crate to transport it to the Tamau Wildlife Rescue Center in Phnom Penh, the capital. The puppies hang out together.
The confiscation came the day after a Twitter user posted an aerial photo of the creature roaming around a garden in the upscale Boeung Keng Kang district of Phnom Penh.
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