PESHAWAR: The officials of wildlife department recovered African lion from a private compound in Khushalgarh area of Kohat district on Monday night and registered case against the owner.

Chief Conservator (wildlife) Dr Mohsin Farooqui confirmed confiscation of African lion, which was caged at a compound near the oil refinery. He said that the exotic animal was shifted from Kohat to Peshawar Zoo on Tuesday.

Officials said that case was registered against the owner of the compound identified as Raheel Sheikh, who kept the 12-month-old white lion inside enclosure. They said that location of the animal was traced when the owner uploaded its pictures on social media.

Officials of the wildlife department perused the case and raided the enclosure with the help of local police. An official of the wildlife department, who supervised the operation, said that the owner did not show legal documents and case was registered against him.

He said that the owner claimed that someone had gifted the animal to him, but he did not disclose name of the person. He said that the owner did not follow legal procedures for caging exotic animal in possession. He said that the wildlife law did not allow a person to keep exotic wild species.

Published in Dawn, May 6th, 2020