PHNON PENH: Cambodian authorities raided a house in a wealthy district of Phnom Penh to rescue a lion that had been defanged, declawed and illegally kept as a pet.
They said they had tracked down the animal in the Cambodian capital’s Boeung Keng Kang district after videos went viral on TikTok. It had been imported from overseas by the owner, a Chinese national, to be raised in his home.
The officers found the 18-month-old male lion in a hallway with a collar around its neck on Sunday. One blew a tranquiliser dart into its side before the team moved in and carried the slumped 70 kg (154 lbs) animal into a metal crate. The lion was then taken to the Phnom Tamao Wildlife Rescue Centre in the outskirts of the capital, officials said.
“It was rare species that was smuggled from abroad,” environment ministry spokesperson Neth Pheaktra said. “Cambodian authorities started investigating this lion since we saw it on TikTok in late April,” Pheaktra said on Sunday. “People have no right to raise rare wildlife as pets.”
The Wildlife Alliance – an animal rescue non-government organisation that helped with the raid – said the conditions of a private residence were “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 raid was a joint operation led by the Forestry Administration, with the Deputy Prosecutor of the Phnom Penh Municipal Court, police, and the military police.
