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The photo released by Cambodia’s Ministry of Environment shows the male lion being confiscated. Photo: AFP

Cambodian police confiscate pet lion after Chinese owner shared TikTok video

  • The 18-month-old male, which weighed 70kg, had been imported from overseas by the owner to be raised in his Phnom Penh villa
  • ‘The lion’s canine teeth had been removed, along with its claws, which drastically reduces a lion’s quality of life,’ conservation group said
Cambodia
Cambodian authorities on Sunday confiscated a pet lion after the defanged and declawed animal was seen in TikTok videos in a Phnom Penh villa.
The 18-month-old male, weighing 70 kilograms, had been imported from overseas by the owner, a Chinese national, to be raised in his home, environment ministry spokesman Neth Pheaktra said.

“Cambodian authorities started investigating this lion since we saw it on TikTok in late April,” Pheaktra said.

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Pet lion confiscated by Cambodian police after Chinese owner shared TikTok video

Pet lion confiscated by Cambodian police after Chinese owner shared TikTok video
Wildlife Alliance – an animal rescue NGO that aided in the raid – wrote in a Facebook post that the conditions of a private residence was “inappropriate for a wild animal”.

“In addition, the lion’s canine teeth had been removed, along with its claws, which drastically reduces a lion’s quality of life,” it said.

The owner had shared a photo of the lion sitting in a driveway as a dog played nearby.

There was also a video of it as a young cub being sprayed down with a hose.

Pictures of the lion also appeared on Twitter. Photo: AFP

“People have no right to raise rare wildlife as pets,” Pheaktra said.

The big cat was shown in photos released Sunday by the environment ministry lounging with a small dog as authorities prepped a crate to move it to the Phnom Tamao Wildlife Rescue Centre in the outskirts of the capital.

The confiscation occurred one a day after a Twitter user posted an aerial shot of the creature roaming around a garden in the upscale Boeung Keng Kang district of Phnom Penh.

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