Lions are beautiful, ferocious, imperious – and wholly unsuited to life as a household pet. The UAE has strict laws restricting ownership of wild animals to those with the knowledge and means to care for them in a proper way.
There is no status in having an alpha predator in your backyard. Doing so presents a risk to the animal, and to you. And when the animal escapes, as a lioness did in Dubai late last week, the entire community is put at risk, and the valuable time of police and animal-welfare officers is wasted.
Animals are not trophies, and our laws respect this. The UAE is a signatory to the Cites agreement to protect wildlife against over-exploitation, and our airlines ban the transport of big-game hunting souvenirs.
The keeping of exotic animals as pets has been a problem for a long time, and this has been exacerbated by the glamorisation of these animals on social media. The laws are in place and they should be fully enforced.
