Watch | Lion kept as pet attacks woman, her kids in Pakistan’s Lahore; owner arrested

In a strange case, a pet lion escaped from a farmhouse and injured a woman and her two children in Lahore, Pakistan. The owners of the pet lion have been arrested, authorities said on Sunday.

The arrest followed dramatic video footage showing the lion jumping over a wall and attacking people in a residential area.

Police official Faisal Kamran said the woman and her children, aged five and seven, suffered injuries to their faces and arms on Wednesday night when the lion broke free from its cage.

According to a police report, the children’s father claimed the lion’s owners stood by and watched as the animal clawed his family, without trying to stop it. The lion later returned to the owners’ farmhouse and was moved to a wildlife park, police said.

In Pakistan, keeping exotic animals like lions is seen as a status symbol among some wealthy people, despite strict laws and high costs associated with ownership.

Meanwhile, in Turkey, another lion escaped from a theme park near the resort city of Antalya and was shot dead on Sunday after attacking a man, according to the local governor and media reports.

The lion, reportedly named Zeus, got out of its enclosure at the Land of Lions theme park in Manavgat, about 65 kilometres east of Antalya, early on Sunday morning.

Turkish newspaper BirGün reported that the lion attacked an agricultural worker named Suleiman Kir, who was sleeping in a pistachio field with his wife. Kir fought the lion off before it ran away. He was injured but not seriously and was taken to a nearby hospital for treatment.