A Pakistani YouTuber has sparked a controversy with a video of a young boy walking a chained tiger. Nouman Hassan has built his social media empire by sharing videos of his big cats and other exotic pets – but his recent clip, featuring a child, appears to be too shocking even for his target audience.
Since being shared five days ago, the video has been inundated with reproving comments, with many criticising the Pakistani YouTuber for putting the child in a potentially dangerous situation. Others called it animal abuse to keep a tiger chained and confined.
Hassan did not specify how the child is related to him, but some on social media speculated he may be the YouTuber’s nephew.
According to local news website PTC News, Hassan’s private collection of exotic pets includes lions, tigers, snakes, crocodiles and more. Other videos on his social media channels also show the young boy playing with lion cubs or sitting with snakes.
Hassan purchased the lions in an auction by the Lahore Safari Zoo in August last year. At that time, the zoo had auctioned off a dozen tigers and lions to free up space and reduce operational expenses.
The video has once again put the contentious issue of exotic pets in Pakistan in the spotlight. According to a 2019 AFP report, Pakistani laws make it easy to import exotic animals, but once inside the country regulation is almost non-existent.
This has led to an untold number of such creatures -- especially big cats, seen as symbols of wealth and power -- being imported or bred across Pakistan in recent years, much to the horror of helpless wildlife officials.
(With inputs from AFP)
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