Conservationists have warned of the growing number of exotic animals being kept as pets in Cambodia
’s capital, after a 18-month-old lion was seized from a Chinese national’s Phnom Penh villa last week.
The 70kg male was removed by Forestry Administration officials last Sunday
from a property in the city’s Boeng Keng Kang district – where a square metre of land can cost as much as US$5,500, according to real estate firm CBRE.
Authorities said they were alerted to the lion’s existence after seeing it appear in a TikTok
video in April. Animal rescue NGO Wildlife Alliance, which helped with the raid, said its claws and canine teeth had been removed.
