A clip originally posted by Animal City Lebanon, a Wildlife Santuary in Zikrit, Mont-Liban, Lebanon has gone viral, with many criticizing the way the zoo is treating its lions across social media.
In the clip, two people can be seen entering a plexiglass box in the area of a male lion. The two young women in the clip seem to mock the lion as it paws at the plexiglass enclosure, seemingly in visible distress.
“Normalize NOT locking up wildlife and using them in stressful ways for attractions and influencers. This poor lion is being tortured like a prisoner for profit. These places should be reported for animal abuse,” writes Robert Allam, prominent Twitter and Reddit user, who re-shared the clip originally posted by Animal City.
“Make your nest trip to Animal City even more special with a memorable face-to-face encounter with the lion,” write Animal City Lebanon in the video’s caption on Instagram.
“Selling ‘memorable’ face to face abusing poor lions who can do nothing other than claw away at proofed glass, wow thanks,” Allam responds.
“This is bloody awful!” said former Dubai-based radio DJ Stef Burgon when reposting the clip online.
Others called the clip “disgusting”, while someone else asked “how ca n anyone think that’s fun or funny or at all appropriate?”
“This truly makes my heart hurt,” writes another.
Not all agreed, however. One person commented, “aww poor lion couldn’t kill the human so sad.”
Animal City Lebanon bills itself as the country’s largest park and shelter for animals, a 26,000 sq meter ‘animal city’, which it calls the first and only in Lebanon, containing a zoo with 200 species of animals, an entertaining area for children, as well as 15 outlets and a restaurant, fast food stand and snack bar, as well as a pet shop.
“Animal City is a refuge containing more than 50 species of wild and domestic animals sheltered, fed, and proteted,” writes their website. “We care about inspiring people to care, educating tomorrow’s wildlife warriors and giving families a great day out.”
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