A Pakistani businessman took his pet lion for a ride around town and was promptly thrown in a cage himself by police after video of the big cat went viral on social media.
Footage posted to YouTube shows the lion, wearing a leash and collar, chilling in the back of a pickup truck, its front paws flopped over the side of the vehicle as it’s chauffeured through the city of Karachi.
The cat’s owner, Saqlain Javed, was arrested Wednesday but freed on bail.
“The man was driving around with his lion near a local market and it was a matter of endangering public life and property,” senior police superintendent Muqadas Haider told Reuters.
Police said Javed claimed to be taking the animal home after a visit to the vet.
Javed has a license to run a personal zoo a common practice among wealthy businessmen in Pakistan and raise lion cubs but isn’t allowed to transport the animal on city streets, according to Haider.
The lion eventually was returned to its home.
“We have a security detail monitoring the property to make sure the lion is not removed,” Haider said.
