Lion cub in the big city

Around 100 big cats reside in the metropolis, says SWD official

KARACHI:

A lion's cub was spotted in a densely populated area of the metropolis on Monday, causing panic in the residential area. In the video shared online by a local resident the malnourished wild cat could be seen attempting to jump through the iron rails of a window of a flat located in PECHS.

"It [the cub] wanted to jump out of the window," another resident of the area told The Express Tribune on the condition of anonymity. "There were children playing in the street. The cub could have hurt them," said the resident, citing fear of the carnivorous cat.

The resident said they tried to alert the Sindh Wildlife Department (SWD) to have the cub rescued but no one was available at the SWD office. Such animals should not be allowed in residential areas, remarked the fearful resident.

When The Express Tribune reached out to the SWD, a senior official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said that keeping the wild cat captive in a residential flat was illegal. "The law does not permit anyone to keep such animals in a residential area."

And yet, a number of residents in different areas of the metropolis have managed to keep big cats in their houses without any legal documentation.

Last year, four lions and a tiger were spotted in Gulshan-e-Muazzam. An SWD team later rescued those animals.

"Approximately, there are over a 100 big cats in the city," the senior SWD official told The Express Tribune.

Despite frequent complaints and subsequent raids, SWD officials rarely manage to take concrete action against the people holding wild cats captive in residential areas or domesticating them as pets. In most cases, the SWD only directs that such animals be shifted to safer areas.

Sources within the department say that the SWD has no safe house or a rehabilitation centre where such animals may be housed.

Meanwhile, fearing the reaction of the keepers of the lion's cub in the PECHS flat, the resident who first witnessed the wild cat did not alert the local police. Instead, the resident said, "We want to inform wildlife officials who can easily deal with the matter". The resident appealed to the authorities to shift the carnivorous animal away from the residential area.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 3^rd, 2021.