Video of Lion Cub Riding in a Bentley in Thailand Goes Viral
Three people in Pattaya, Thailand have been taken into custody after shocking video online showed a man cruising with a lion cub in the backseat of his Bentley. Wildlife advocates are now speaking out against the trio, calling for stronger laws from government officials so that animals can no longer be put in dangerous positions like this.
The video is almost too strange to be real. The clip shows the man driving down a road in Pattaya, a town with high tourist traffic, with the cub resting on the rear door frame.
The video was originally posted in December but has blown up again after news of the charges. The clip shows the animal looking dazed in a bright yellow collar as the driver cruised along the busy street. It doesn't appear that the cub has any type of restraint on it so that it won't leap from the vehicle.
Related: San Diego Zoo Shows What a Mountain Lion Cub ‘Feeding Frenzy’ Looks Like
According to Yahoo! News, the man driving the car is a friend of a local woman named Sawangjit Kosoongnern, who confessed to owning the animal to authorities. She told authorities that she bought the cub from a Thai man in the Nakhon Pathom province.
It's not illegal to own a lion in Thailand, but you do have to have it officially registered. Sawangjit hadn't done so, which means that her ownership is illegal. She has since been taken into the custody and now faces up to a year in prison and has fines worth thousand of dollars.
The man driving the car was from Sri Lanka and the animal was allegedly kept in a villa pool that he was renting. Although it's unclear whether that was Sawangjit's villa or not. Authorities have yet to find the man, but he faces charges of bringing a controlled wild animal into public places, which if found guilty could land him in jail for up to six months and facing a fines of 50,000 baht (about $2,125 USD).
CBS News reports that on January 26, the Central Investigation Bureau announced that a third man had been charged in the case. It's unclear how the man is related. They also announced that they've been charged with “breaking environmental and natural resources law by possessing a protected wildlife without authorization."
The Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation, said that all three people involved in the case face charges of illegal possession of a wild animal under the Wildlife Protection Act.
What Is the Wildlife Protection Act?
According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United States, this Wildlife Protection Act is meant to to "facilitate the conservation, protection, care, and restoration of wild lives and their habitats."
"The Act also prohibits possession of preserved wild animals, protected wild animals, or the carcass of these wild animals except as otherwise permitted by the Act," the website states.
Country Director World Animal Protection Australia, Ben Pearson, told Yahoo! News that the lion should've never been kept as a pet. He said this was a clear example of an animal that had been exploited.
"In a home, there is no way to meet the complex needs of a wild animal such as a lion cub or replicate the space and freedom he would have in the wild," he explained. "The sad reality is that these wild animals suffer at every step of the journey destined to people’s homes."
“Whether it’s legal or illegal, wild animals belong in the wild and should never be kept as pets," he added.
Looking for more PetHelpful updates? Follow us on YouTube for more entertaining videos. Or, share your own adorable pet by submitting a video, and sign up for our newsletter for the latest pet updates and tips.
