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Updated August 16th, 2021 at 19:03 IST

Pet Lion wanders off on Cambodian streets after escaping its Chinese owner

Photos and videos of a lion roaming the streets of Cambodia have gone viral on social media. The lion appeared to be unsupervised on the streets.

Reported by: Srishti Goel
Lion
Picture Credit: @Mgebremedhin/Twitter | Image:self
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On social media, photos and videos of a lion wandering the streets of Cambodia have gone viral. The lion was “apparently unsupervised” on the streets. Scottish journalist Andrew MacGregor Marshall provided a sequence of tweets along with the pictures of the lion. 

Lion on Cambodia streets

In the following tweets, Marshall informed that this is the lion that was detained by Cambodian officials when TikTok videos of the animal at a villa in the capital, Phnom Penh, went viral. On June 27, the lion which weighs 70kg, was apprehended and taken to a rescue centre. After repeated requests, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen ordered the lion to be returned to its owner, a Chinese national named Qi Xiao.

Sharing pictures of the lion on street, Marshall wrote,

"A lion being kept as a pet in a house in Phnom Penh by wealthy Chinese businessman Qi Xiao has been wandering in the street outside, apparently unsupervised. How long will this madness and cruelty be allowed to continue?"

He followed up with a video of the lion wandering through the streets. He noted,

"The lion was seized from the house a couple of months ago by wildlife authorities, but this led to an outcry among the rich kids of Cambodia who think wealthy people should be able to do whatever they link."

An elated owner gets his pet Lion back

In another tweet, he wrote:

"Eventually dictator Hun Sen personally intervened to allow the lion to be returned to its owner as long as it was kept in a secure cage. Instead, it's wandering about outside in the upscale neighbourhood of BKK1 (sic)."

Marshall also stated in his tweets that the lion had been defanged and declawed, and that the animal's current living conditions are awful. He remarked,

"The lion has been cruelly defanged and had its claws removed, but it is still a threat. Living in these conditions is also terrible for the welfare of the lion. Let's see if the residents of BKK1 still think Qi Xiao should be allowed to keep his lion."

The officials said that it was a rare species of Lion that had been smuggled from another country. They also insisted that people don't have the legal right to rear wildlife at home, especially when it's a confiscated endangered species. 

Qi Xiao had informed The Guadian after reconciling with the pet lion that he had not anticipated receiving his lion back.

"I'm overjoyed and touched because I didn't expect to see him again," Xiao remarked.

Picture Credit: @Mgebremedhin/Twitter

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Published August 16th, 2021 at 19:03 IST

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