A Pakistani YouTube star, who was given a lion cub as a gift on his wedding day, has avoided jail after promising to upload animal rights videos for a year.
Rajab Butt has one of the largest online followings in the south Asian country and his week-long nuptials in late December were plastered over celebrity gossip websites.
When a sleepy lion cub was presented to him in a gold-chained cage in front of thousands of guests, pictures spread rapidly online.
Butt captioned a video of the event ‘it’s raining gifts’, gaining nearly 10 million views.
The morning after, police raided his house, confiscated the cub and kept the newly-wed in custody overnight.
“We found out about the lion cub through social media,” says Faisal Mushtaq, an inspector from the Punjab provincial wildlife department.
Police officers went to Butt’s house and found the lion cub roaming around the garage, he says.
“It was in a poor condition, as it was very cold,” says Mushtaq.
Last week, Butt pleaded guilty to owning an undocumented wild animal, but the judge waived a possible fine and prison sentence of up to two years for a more tailored punishment.
Every month for one year, he must post a five-minute video dedicated to animal rights, says the order by judge Hamid Ul Rahman Nasir.
Butt agreed to the conditions, after admitting in a court statement that he “set a poor example” by accepting the gift and going on to “glorify it”.
He is one of the country’s highest-paid YouTube stars, according to the platform and usually posts videos about his family’s daily life, from arguments to new car purchases.
Tanvir Janjua, a veteran wildlife official in Punjab, says the cub was likely bought for between 700 000 and 800 000 Pakistani rupees (about N$47 000 to N$54 000).
“It is so wrong, morally and legally, to take away such a small cub from its mother,” which was likely still feeding it, Janjua told AFP.
The gifted lion cub, which has not been named, is now enjoying the winter sun in an open pen at Lahore’s sprawling Safari Zoo on the edge of the city, under the watchful eye of a handler.
Janjua, also the zoo’s deputy director, says: “Look at these YouTubers who use these animals to get clicks. What kind of a message are they spreading by being cruel to these animals?”
“They can never be your pet. For two or three months it won’t do anything but after that, it will turn aggressive.”
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