The wealthy gets away, but not this time.
Authorities who carried out a raid in the house of a wealthy person in Phnom Penh ended up rescuing an 18-month-old lion that was defanged, declawed and was being illegally kept as a pet inside the house.
The authorities said that they carried out the raid after they found out that the lion was being used for TikTok videos.
The authorities in Cambodia’s capital’s Boeung Keng Kang district said they tracked down the animal after a couple of its videos were shared on TikTok.
The lion was found roaming around a hallway inside the house with a collar around its neck during the riad.
A tranquilizer was used by the team to calm down the lion so it could be placed inside a metal crate.
The lion was then taken to the Phnom Tamao Wildlife Rescue Centre, which is located in the outskirts of the capital.
Neth Pheaktra, the spokesperson for the Environment Ministry, said:
It was rare species that was smuggled from abroad. According to the law, people don’t have the right to raise wildlife at home, especially rare species.
The Wildlife Alliance NGO and the Forestry Team carried out the joint operation to rescue the animal.
Authorities did not reveal any details about the person that was keeping the animal and which type of sanctions they might be facing for keeping an exotic animal illegally inside their house.
The Deputy Prosecutor of the Phnom Penh Municipal Court, the police and the military police were also present during the raid.
