Boy loses arm in lion attack at Lahore breeding farm

An eight-year-old boy was critically injured after being attacked by a pet lion at a private breeding farm in the Sabzazar area of Lahore on Saturday, in yet another incident highlighting serious safety lapses involving captive wild animals in residential localities.

The incident occurred at the Dola Breeding Farm on 80-Feet Road in Sabzazar, owned by Umar Iqbal and Ali Iqbal. The child, Wajid Ali, had reportedly wandered close to the lion enclosure while playing when the animal attacked him, injuring his arm.

Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Operations Lahore, Faisal Kamran, took notice of the incident, ordering legal action against those responsible. He said the owners initially attempted to conceal the incident from the police, but their efforts failed.

Read: Punjab reviews big-cat ownership rules after pet lion attack in Lahore

A team led by Iqbal Town Superintendent of Police (SP), Dr Umar, traced the case and reached the hospital. Police officials revealed that the breeding farm is licensed by the Punjab Wildlife Department. However, preliminary investigations revealed that the lion's enclosure was inadequate and that negligence on the part of the owners led to the attack. The owners were subsequently arrested and booked in the case.

According to officials, SP Umar is personally supervising the investigation. DIG Kamran commended the police team for taking prompt action, stating that endangering human lives for commercial gain is a serious crime and will not be tolerated.

Meanwhile, Chief Wildlife Ranger Punjab, Mubeen Elahi, has sought a detailed report of the incident, directing Deputy Chief Wildlife Ranger, Adnan Wirk, to take immediate action in light of its findings.

Just recently, a young girl was attacked and injured by a lioness in Lahore's Nawan Kot area. Following the incident, the owners fled along with the lioness. However, they were arrested after a few hours and a case was registered against them.

Subsequent action led to the seizure of 11 lions from a factory in the area. Of them, five were female, three male and three cubs.

Under wildlife laws, keeping big cats in urban residential areas is prohibited. According to wildlife officials, keeping these cats without a licence can result in a fine of up to Rs5 million and imprisonment of up to seven years. The annual registration fee for one big cat is Rs50,000.

Read More: 11 seized lions sent to Safari Park

The lioness attack prompted the Punjab government to initiate a review on Thursday of its policy on the private keeping of big cats.

Chief Ranger Elahi said that a re-inspection drive of privately kept big cats has been launched across Lahore and other parts of Punjab. In the first phase, authorities are considering euthanising sick and incurable big cats currently housed in zoos and wildlife parks.

He added that once the sick animals were removed, the resulting vacant space in zoos would be used to relocate big cats recovered from illegal private custody.