TikTok Lion Confiscated After Owner’s Video Goes Viral, Worst Sequel to ‘Tiger King’ Ever

It turns out cops in Cambodia have way too much time on their hands. We know this because they busted a man hoarding an illegal pet lion after seeing his video on TikTok. (But who doesn’t love watching someone get busted on social media?)

As police scrolled through social media (presumably eating the Cambodian equivalent of a donut), they discovered a rare animal being kept inside a house in Phnom Penh. Video of the lion showed him looking depressed as he watched the family dog running around the yard for the tenth time that morning.

When authorities arrived at the suspect’s house, they discovered the lion had been declawed and its canine teeth removed, a cruel measure that drastically reduces its quality of life. “People have no right to raise rare wildlife as pets,” a Cambodian government spokesman said.

Of course, in America, that’s not exactly the case. While half of the country outlaws keeping exotic animals as pets, six states have no ban on big cats. And while much of the world has banned the declawing of cats, we’re too worried about our new microfiber couch to go down like that.

Back in Cambodia, the 18-month-old lion is now on its way to an animal sanctuary in Phnom Tamao on the outskirts of the capital, where it can live out the rest of its days as a retired TikTok star. Though it won’t be able to claw anything, it reportedly gives great massages.

While police haven’t yet revealed the punishment for keeping a lion as a house pet, we hope they go easy on the animal outlaw. After all, we’ve all wanted to have a pet lion at some point in our lives – though most of us just do what normal people do and dress our dog in a Simba costume before taking mushrooms in the park.

Because we understand the difference between animals that belong in the wild and animals that belong in the house (except when we’re peaking our brains out).

Cover Photo: Cambodia Ministry of Environment (Getty Images)

Visit the Mandatory Shop for great deals on your very own Mandatory merch.

Follow Mandatory on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

TRENDING


X