Behind a car repair business on a nondescript Thai street are the cherished pets of a rising TikTok animal influencer: two lions and a 200-kilogram lion-tiger hybrid called “Big George.”<\/p>\n
Lion ownership is legal in Thailand, and Tharnuwarht Plengkemratch is an enthusiastic advocate, posting updates on his feline companions to nearly three million followers.<\/p>\n
“They’re playful and affectionate, just like dogs or cats,” he told AFP from inside their cage complex at his home in the northern city of Chiang Mai.<\/p>\n
Thailand’s captive lion population has exploded in recent years, with nearly 500 registered in zoos, breeding farms, petting cafes and homes.<\/p>\n
Experts warn the trend endangers animals and humans, stretches authorities and likely fuels illicit trade domestically and abroad.<\/p>\n
“It’s absolute madness,” said Tom Taylor, chief operating officer of conservation group Wildlife Friends Foundation Thailand.<\/p>\n
“It’s terrifying to imagine, if the laws aren’t changed, what the situation is going to be in 10 years.”<\/p>\n
The boom is fueled by social media, where owners like Tharnuwarht post light-hearted content and glamour shots with lions.<\/p>\n
“I wanted to show people… that lions can actually bond well with humans,” he said, insisting he plays regularly with his pets.<\/p>\n
He entered Big George’s enclosure tentatively though, spending just a few minutes being batted by the tawny striped liger’s hefty paws before retreating behind a fence.<\/p>\n
Since 2022, Thai law has required owners to register and microchip lions, and inform authorities before moving them.<\/p>\n
But there are no breeding caps, few enclosure or welfare requirements, and no controls on liger or tigon hybrids.<\/p>\n
Births of protected native species like tigers must be reported within 24 hours. Lion owners have 60 days.<\/p>\n
“That is a huge window,” said Taylor. “What could be done with a litter of cubs in those 60 days? Anything.”<\/p>\n
– Illicit trade –<\/p>\n
Taylor and his colleagues have tracked the rise in lion ownership with on-site visits and by trawling social media.<\/p>\n
They recorded around 130 in 2018, and nearly 450 by 2024.<\/p>\n
But nearly 350 more lions they encountered were “lost to follow-up” after their whereabouts could not be confirmed for a year.<\/p>\n
That could indicate unreported deaths, an animal removed from display or “worst-case scenarios”, said Taylor.<\/p>\n
“We have interviewed traders (in the region) who have given us prices for live and dead lions and have told us they can take them over the border.”<\/p>\n
As a vulnerable species, lions and their parts can only be sold internationally with so-called CITES permits.<\/p>\n
But there is circumstantial evidence of illicit trade, several experts told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity to avoid angering authorities.<\/p>\n
Media reports and social media have documented lions, including cubs, in Cambodia multiple times in recent years, though CITES shows no registered imports since 2003.<\/p>\n
There is also growing evidence that captive lion numbers in Laos exceed CITES import licences.<\/p>\n
In Thailand, meanwhile, imports of lion parts like bones, skins and teeth have dropped in recent years, though demand remains, raising questions about how parts are now being sourced.<\/p>\n
Thai trader Pathamawadee Janpithak started in the crocodile business, but pivoted to lions as prices for the reptiles declined.<\/p>\n
“It gradually became a full-fledged business that I couldn’t step away from,” the gregarious 32-year-old told AFP in front of a row of caged cubs.<\/p>\n
She sells one-month-olds for around 500,000 baht ($15,500), down from a peak of 800,000 baht as breeding operations like hers increase supply.<\/p>\n
Captive lions are generally fed around two kilograms (4.4 pounds) of chicken carcasses a day, and can produce litters of two to six cubs, once or twice a year.<\/p>\n
Pathamawadee’s three facilities house around 80 lions, from a stately full-maned nine-year-old to a sickly pair of eight-day-olds being bottle-fed around the clock.<\/p>\n
They are white because of a genetic mutation, and the smaller pool of white lions means inbreeding and sickness are common.<\/p>\n
Sometimes wrongly considered a “threatened” subspecies, they are popular in Thailand, but a month-old white cub being reared alongside the newborns has been sick almost since birth.<\/p>\n
It has attracted no buyers so far and will be unbreedable, Pathamawadee said.<\/p>\n
She lamented the increasing difficulty of finding buyers willing to comply with ownership rules.<\/p>\n
“In the past, people could just put down money and walk away with a lion… Everything has become more complicated.”<\/p>\n
– Legal review –<\/p>\n
Pathamawadee sells around half of the 90 cubs she breeds each year, often to other breeders, who are increasingly opening “lion cafes” where customers pose with and pet young lions.<\/p>\n
Outside Chiang Mai, a handler roused a cub from a nap to play with a group of squealing Chinese tourists.<\/p>\n
Staff let AFP film the interaction, but like all lion cafes contacted, declined interviews.<\/p>\n
Pathamawadee no longer sells to cafes, which tend to offload cubs within weeks as they grow.<\/p>\n
She said several were returned to her traumatised and no longer suitable for breeding.<\/p>\n
The growing lion population is a problem for Thailand’s Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation (DNP), admitted wildlife protection director Sadudee Punpugdee.<\/p>\n
“But private ownership has existed for a long time… so we’re taking a gradual approach,” he told AFP.<\/p>\n
That includes limiting lion imports so breeders are forced to rely on the domestic population.<\/p>\n
“With inbreeding on the rise, the quality of the lions is also declining and we believe that demand will decrease as a result,” Sadudee said.<\/p>\n
Already stretched authorities face difficult choices on enforcing regulations, as confiscated animals become their responsibility, said Penthai Siriwat, illegal wildlife trade specialist at WWF Thailand.<\/p>\n
“There is a great deal of deliberation before intervening… considering the substantial costs,” she told AFP.<\/p>\n
Owners like Tharnuwarht often evoke conservation to justify their pets, but Thailand’s captive lions will never live in the wild.<\/p>\n
Two-year-olds Khanom and Khanun live in a DNP sanctuary after being confiscated from a cafe and private owner over improper paperwork.<\/p>\n
They could survive another decade or more, and require specialised keepers, food and care.<\/p>\n
Sanctuary chief vet Natanon Panpeth treads carefully while discussing the lion trade, warning only that the “well-being of the animals should always come first”.<\/p>\n
Big cat ownership has been banned in the United States and United Arab Emirates in recent years, and Thailand’s wildlife rules are soon up for review.<\/p>\n
Sadudee is hopeful some provisions may be tightened, though a ban is unlikely for now.<\/p>\n
He has his own advice for would-be owners: “Wild animals belong in the wild. There are plenty of other animals we can keep as pets.”<\/p>\n
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