A man in Lahore has been arrested after a lion escaped from a farmhouse and injured a woman and two children in a residential neighbourhood, police said.
The attack occurred on Wednesday in the city’s Jauhar Town area when the lion got out of its cage and jumped over a wall and barricade onto the street. Closed-circuit television footage shows the lion leaping onto the back of the woman, knocking her to the ground, before clawing and biting at the children nearby.
Two of the children, aged five and seven, suffered facial and arm injuries. All the victims are currently being treated at the Jinnah Hospital in Lahore, reported the Press Trust of India.
According to Faisal Kamran, a senior police official, the animal's owner was present at the scene but made no attempt to stop the attack. The children’s father alleged that the owner watched the mauling without intervening, “appearing to enjoy the spectacle”.
The lion later returned to the farmhouse before being captured by police and wildlife personnel and relocated to a secure government-run wildlife park.
Lahore police confirmed that the lion’s owner was arrested under charges including attempted murder and violations of the Punjab Wildlife Act.
Authorities said the man did not possess a valid licence to keep the animal and had failed to put in place proper safety measures. Under recent amendments to wildlife laws in the province, those found guilty of such offences can face up to seven years in prison and fines of up to PKR 5mn (£13,500).
Keeping wild animals such as lions, tigers and leopards as pets has become a trend among some affluent individuals in Pakistan, often regarded as a symbol of wealth and power. However, ownership requires extensive licensing and adherence to strict safety protocols, which are frequently ignored.
In a separate incident in Turkey on the same day, a lion named Zeus escaped from the Land of Lions theme park near the resort city of Antalya. The animal attacked an agricultural worker named Suleiman Kir, who was sleeping in a pistachio field with his wife. Mr Kir fought off the lion with his bare hands, grabbing its neck until it retreated.
“We were covered with blankets to protect ourselves from mosquitoes and when the prayer call sounded, I tried to stand up but I couldn’t,” Mr Kir told BirGün newspaper. “Suddenly I felt something touch my left foot and when I eventually managed to get up, I saw it was something huge – I thought it was a dog.”
In a video posted online, Mr Kir recounted: “We called for help but there was no one around. As the lion was biting my calf and my neck, I grabbed him around the neck and began to squeeze and he backed off. At that moment, the security forces came. If I had not been strong, I wouldn’t be here right now.”
The governor of Antalya confirmed that the lion had been tracked and shot dead by security forces, stating that capturing it alive had been deemed too dangerous. An investigation has been launched into the escape. BirGün reported that the theme park is home to around 30 large cats.
A woman also sustained severe injuries to an arm when she was attacked by a lion at an Australian zoo. The Darling Downs Zoo in Queensland state said the 50-year-old woman was watching animal keepers working in the zoo’s carnivore precinct before opening hours Sunday morning when she was attacked.
