She was carrying a lion cub in her car: Woman arrested for illegal possession of protected species
This Friday, January 26, 2024, a woman was arrested in Thailand after transporting a lion cub in the back of a luxury car.
Images that are controversial. This Friday, January 26, a woman was arrested for illegally possessing a lion cub that she was transporting in a Bentley, Thai police announced. Parisian. Images of this car outing were widely circulated on social networks and provoked numerous reactions.
No authorization
In the video, we see the young cat driving behind a convertible Bentley through the streets of Pattaya, which is heavily congested due to tourism. An investigation was launched by the police.
Although the country’s law does not prohibit lion ownership, the latter must in fact be officially registered, which is not the case for the animal’s owner Sawangjit Kosognarn. The latter is accused of possession “Unauthorized protected animal species”reported to the police on their Facebook page. “We caught him under the Wild Animal Protection Act 2019”She clarifies.
As a result, the arrested woman is ordered to pay a fine of up to 100,000 baht, which corresponds to 2,600 euros, but also a one-year prison sentence, details Parisian.
However, the suspect said he bought the lion cubs from a woman in Nakhon Pathom province, but was unable to obtain an official document due to missing information on the animal’s breed. She claims she kept the cat in a luxury house rented by a businessman (who drives a Bentley in the video), which has since been sent to her home country, Sri Lanka.
According to Thai authorities, more than 200 lions are legally owned by individuals across the country, the French daily clarifies.
