According to animal rights activists, a troubling new trend has emerged among the wealthy, involving posing with illegally purchased tiger and lion cubs alongside luxury cars for Instagram photos.
This week, Paris police discovered a lion cub in a Lamborghini during a routine traffic stop, highlighting a disturbing practice that has reportedly spread from the Gulf states.
The young male cub, named Putin, is less than two months old and would have likely died from poor care if not rescued on the Champs-Elysees.
“There are hundreds of babies being illegally traded like this,” said animal rights activist Reha Hutin on Wednesday. “You can buy a cub for less than a dog, around 300 euros, and they often come from circuses. It’s a disaster. People buy these cubs and use them for selfies on social media.”
Hutin believes this trend, which started in Gulf countries, has reached France. “Wealthy individuals in the Gulf pose with baby cubs and take pictures of themselves in luxury cars,” she explained. “Once the cubs grow up, they are discarded.”
This trend isn’t confined to France alone. In the Netherlands, another abandoned lion cub was found by a jogger last month, caged and left in a field.
In another case involving Hutin’s NGO, 30 Million Friends, a French court sentenced an individual to six months in jail for possession of a lion cub, a verdict Hutin hopes will discourage others.
The lion cub found in the Lamborghini is the third to be recovered in a month and the sixth wild cat found in less than a year. Recently, customs officials discovered a young lioness in a cage inside a garage in Marseille.
30 Million Friends is advocating for stronger government action against the trafficking of wild animals and their exploitation in French circuses.
“Circuses are breeding these cubs to meet the demand,” Hutin said. “These animals end up for sale online, and it’s becoming a huge problem.”
Although the cub found in the Lamborghini is now safe, a vet’s examination revealed it was in poor health, with a weakened condition, a back paw issue, and a broken tail.
The cub is currently in quarantine at a big cat wildlife park east of Paris and will eventually be moved to join two other cubs rescued by 30 Million Friends in October.
The NGO hopes to reunite all three cubs with other rescued lions in a large wildlife park in South Africa. “Our goal is to bring them together and form a family,” Hutin said. “We’ll create a little group of six, all rescued from Paris.”
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