Putting the animal and public at risk
KARACHI: It is apropos the article ‘Big cats of Instagram: Pakistani elite’s love of exotic wildlife’ published on July 2nd in your esteemed journal. The article covered people that keep wild cats, mostly lions, as pets. Some may have the space to house them at farmhouses located in the suburbs of the city, but some also keep them in their houses that are in the city centre. Like the story also pointed out, some people take their lions out on rides in their jeeps or even for walks on the streets. The sheer ignorance of these ‘educated’ people is baffling. They are harming these innocent animals by keeping them in captivity in concrete cages, and killing their natural survival instincts. Not to mention the trauma they undergo when they are flown in from their home countries, and later on made to breed again and again. They are also putting the public at risk. At the end of the day, a lion is a lion. It can easily grow frustrated of living this unnatural life and attack the people around it. Our government should set up a special force to round up all the big cats in the country, and send them to sanctuaries in African countries, where they can live in their natural habitat. People who break the law by keeping and breeding these animals should also be arrested and punished accordingly.
Anam Irfan
Published in The Express Tribune, July 7th, 2019.
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