LAHORE: The Punjab Wildlife and Parks Department has seized 59 big cats from different parts of the province and arrested eight suspects for not following the department’s SOPs for housing the animals.

As per details, the department seized 20 lions from a breeding farm in the Lahore division and arrested Fayaz alias Faizi and three others for violating the instructions that every lion pair should have at least 22 marlas of space for captivity.

While another 23 big cats, including 14 tigers, four lions and five ligers were seized from a facility in CITI housing, Jhelum and one Muhammad Aamir was arrested.

In Multan, a private wildlife breeding farm near the Askari Bypass in Cantonment area was also sealed for non-compliance of SOPs.

As many as nine lions and a monkey were seized from the facility and an FIR was registered against one Waqas Ayub.

Similarly in Gujranwala division, one person was arrested for possessing three lions in violation of the department’s guidelines at the Canal View Housing Society.

Two lions were retrieved from a home in Luther village in Sialkot district and one arrest was made. Meanwhile, another two lions being kept at the Imam Jalvi Darbar in Faisalabad were also seized.

Additional Chief Wildlife Ranger Mudassar Hassan told Dawn that the department had been issuing notices on the print and social media platforms that farms that failed to fulfill the standards for keeping wild animals would be sealed.

He said that the facilities that had not followed the guidelines had been sealed and the department would take care of the lions.

Sources claimed that the fate of the lions would be decided later.

Published in Dawn, January 25th, 2026