A MAN was mauled to death by his pet lion in southern Iraq, just days after bringing the animal home in hopes of taming it in his garden.
The victim, 50-year-old Aqil Fakhr al-Din, was known locally for keeping lions and other wild animals on his property for years, according to police.
Mufid Tahir, a police spokesperson in the region, informed the Rudaw news outlet, “Today, in a garden located in the city of Kufa, Najaf, a resident was fatally attacked by a lion in his backyard.”
“The lion had eaten a large portion of the man’s body, and because the lion refused to leave the remains, we were forced to shoot and kill it.”
Local television reports indicate that the victim’s neighbor stepped in and shot the lion seven times with a Kalashnikov rifle, killing it, before authorities could arrive.
Al-Din was immediately taken to Al-Sadr Medical City Hospital in Najaf but did not survive due to the severity of his injuries.
A video showing the dead lion in the garden quickly gained attention on social media, leading to public outrage over the man’s ability to keep such an animal at home and raising concerns about Iraq’s weak regulations on the private ownership of exotic animals.
Al-Din had bought the lion to raise and tame it at home, local reports claim.
Iraq has long struggled with illegal wildlife trafficking, driven by a strong market demand along with years of weak law enforcement.
In the absence of effective regulations, hunters and smugglers continue to capture and trade rare species.
Falcons from Iraq’s southern plains are among the most sought-after animals, especially due to their value in the Gulf’s falconry traditions.
In the mountainous and remote areas of the Kurdistan Region, smugglers also target a wide range of species including wild birds, foxes and reptiles.
Many of these animals are sold in local markets or trafficked across borders to wealthier buyers in neighbouring countries.
But rare and exotic species are also smuggled into Iraq and the Kurdistan Region from other parts of the world.
These animals – ranging from African primates to Asian big cats – are sold in black markets or displayed in private collections, often with little regard for animal welfare.
Despite Iraq’s ratification of the Convention on the Protection of Animals in 2014 – which aims to regulate global wildlife trade – illegal trafficking remains widespread across the country.
It comes as zoo worker was killed by a kangaroo after he was reportedly “roughhousing” with it.
Eric Slate, who was the brother of the petting zoo’s owner, was found beaten up at 5-Star Farm near Loris, South Carolina, according to police.
The worker’s exact cause of death is still unclear, but the local councilman Dennis DiSabato confirmed a kangaroo was directly involved in the killing.
Slate’s corpse was discovered just after midnight on Saturday, with the kangaroo still in the same enclosure.
South Carolina has some of the most lenient laws in the US when it comes to exotic animal ownership.
Unlike many other states that require permits, licenses or ban certain species altogether, South Carolina imposes minimal restrictions.
Besides South Carolina, there are only two other states in the US where people can purchase a pet kangaroo without a permit: Wisconsin and West Virginia.
In the absence of stricter rules, exotic pet incidents, including escapes and attacks, remain a real possibility.
