{"id":44488,"date":"2025-08-04T11:52:13","date_gmt":"2025-08-04T11:52:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/44488\/"},"modified":"2025-08-04T11:52:13","modified_gmt":"2025-08-04T11:52:13","slug":"absolute-madness-thailands-pet-lion-problem-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/44488\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Absolute madness’: Thailand’s pet lion problem"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

\"Tharnuwarht<\/p>\n

Mechanic shop owner and avid Tiktoker Tharnuwarht Plengkemratch interacting with his pet lion-tiger hybrid “Big George” in Chiang Mai, Thailand on July 11, 2025. Photo by AFP<\/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 enclosures 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

\"S\u01b0<\/p>\n

An eight-day-old lion being fed milk at a breeding facility in Chachoengsao province, Thailand on July 7, 2025. Photo by AFP<\/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 licenses.<\/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

\"S\u01b0<\/p>\n

A lion handler playing with a lion cub at a cafe in Chiang Mai., Thailand on July 11, 2025. Photo by AFP<\/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 traumatized 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 specialized 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","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lion ownership is legal in Thailand, and Tharnuwarht Plengkemratch is an enthusiastic advocate, posting updates on his feline…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":44489,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[31457,49,48,31459,31458,31464,31463,31460,31467,66,31469,31456,31466,31462,31461,31455,31465,323,31468],"class_list":{"0":"post-44488","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-big-george-liger-thailand","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-canada","11":"tag-captive-lions-in-thailand","12":"tag-exotic-pets-thailand","13":"tag-inbreeding-white-lions","14":"tag-lion-breeding-thailand","15":"tag-lion-pet-trend-social-media","16":"tag-lion-trade-southeast-asia","17":"tag-science","18":"tag-thai-lion-breeder-pathamawadee","19":"tag-thai-tiktok-animal-influencer","20":"tag-thailand-cites-violations","21":"tag-thailand-exotic-animal-trade","22":"tag-thailand-lion-cafes","23":"tag-thailand-lion-ownership","24":"tag-thailand-wildlife-law-review","25":"tag-wildlife","26":"tag-wildlife-friends-foundation-thailand"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44488","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44488"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44488\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44489"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44488"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44488"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44488"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}