Big cat owners hide their animals from Pakistan

The smell hanging in the air is the first sign. There is something unusual in the peasant house on the outskirts of one of Pakistan’s largest cities.

Once inward, the reason becomes clear: the property lives 26 lions, tigers and cubs – and belongs to the file.

According to him, the rain turned the earth into dirt.

But the animals are “happy here,” he insists. “When they see us, they come up, they eat … They are not aggressive.”

Almost instantly one of the lions growls.

“This is one aggressive, it is its nature,” says Fiaz.

The file loves big cats. Of this object, the largest in private hands across the country over the last 10 years, a 38-year-old boy has been selling cubs and propaganda couples. It is considered one of the largest dealers of Leo in Pakistan.

For decades, these animals – lions, tigers, cougars, cheetahs and jaguars – have been signs of power, status and even political loyalty in the country. For example, tiger is a symbol of the ruling Pakistani Muslim League.

Recently, when the dawn of short videos on social media, such as Tiktok and Instagram, there was a surge in property, and the lions were sometimes even brought to wedding events.

But after a home lion who escaped and attacks the woman and her two children when they walked down the street in Lahora, the government launched repression – one that already affects people such as a file.

Among the new rules, the owners have to pay a one -time registration fee of 50,000 Pakistani rupees ($ 176; 129 pounds) on animals and farms should keep a maximum of 10 large cats from no more than two species. Sites should also be open to visit visits.

Violation of new laws can lead to a fine of up to 200,000 Pakistani rupees and, for worse violators, up to seven years in prison.

In another property on the outskirts of Lahora, five lion wolves – their coat, confusing – the pace around the cell.

“But where is the parents?” asks the wildlife official.

There are several blank cells nearby. Wildlife representatives are here after receiving the hint that the man holds lions and cubs without a license, and brought them illegally for sale. As long as they arrived, the owner went missing, leaving the warden, holding the bag.

“I was hired only two weeks ago,” he complains when he was put in the back of the truck and was taken for questioning.

Officials suspect that the owner may have taken away their parents and hid them.

The saved cubs were handed over to the public zoo in Lahora and isolated for medical checks.

But in a country where large cats have been sold for decades, officials are worried that the raids are barely scratching on the surface. They believe that there are actually hundreds, if not thousands of large cats only in Punjab.

“It will take at least six months,” says BBC CEO Mubeen Ellahi, CEO of Wildlife & Parks. He expects 30-40% of Lviv in Punjab will not be voluntarily announced.

There is also a different complication. Mubin explains that the inbriding has become a common practice in Pakistan, and some major cats may be poured. “They have a lot of health problems. We are still considering politics,” he added.

He pointed to another incident in December last year, when another lion fled to Lahore and then shot.

Returning to the file property, he considers the opportunity to do next.

The official told the BBC that they were dissatisfied with the size of the cage, and that the hosts should convert themselves to the zoo. Now the file has three months.

But animal rights groups believe that these animals need to be done more.

“We called for an overshadow, not zoos,” Altamush Said in the BBC said. He wants more transparency in zoos, and the government correctly solves the problem of private large cats.

“We need a systematic solution, not stopping.”

Additional report by Usmanan Zahid and Malik Mudasir