Punjab sells seven pairs of African lions

The Safari Park of the Wildlife Department of Punjab is suffering losses due to the lockdown amid coronavirus pandemic, prompting the department to sell seven pairs of African lions while talks are underway to sell another six pairs.

According to Assistant Director of Safari Park Lahore Dr Muhammad Azhar, each lion having an age of between one to 12 years was sold for Rs150,000.

Punjab Wildlife Department’s Director Muhammad Naeem Bhatti cited different reasons for selling these animals. “Safari Park presently covers an area of 80 acres where we had 49 lions and lionesses mostly from Africa. Their breeding happened in this Safari Park but this area was not enough for these 49 wild animals. They were not comfortable here,” Naeem Bhatti told BBC.

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He further said “We received four lions and tigers as a gift from UAE and we wanted to breed them with these African lions. But for the purpose, we need more space until then we cannot initiate this process.”

He said, “The animals which have been sold had also some defects that’s why we opted to sell them.”

Bhatti further said the Safari Park administration received no fund from the government to feed these lions. The administration spent Rs30,000 daily to feed them. But now due to the lockdown when the public is not visiting the Safari Park it has become almost impossible to feed these lions.”

He said these lions were sold to those private breeding farms which are registered with the Punjab government.