A man was mauled to death and eaten by his pet lion just days after buying the beast to keep in his back garden.
A 50-year-old Iraqi man was killed and partially eaten by his pet lion in Najaf on Thursday, just days after acquiring the animal. According to Najaf Police spokesperson Mufid Tahir, the victim, identified as Aqil Fakhr al-Din, had kept lions and other wild animals in his garden for years before the fatal attack. “Today in a garden in the city of Kufa in Najaf, a citizen was attacked by a lion in his own garden and died immediately,” Tahir told local media.
Authorities were forced to shoot the lion after it consumed much of al-Din’s body and refused to leave the remains. The incident highlights the dangers of keeping exotic predators as pets, a practice that remains legal but largely unregulated in parts of Iraq. Police confirmed the big cat was newly acquired, suggesting it may not have been fully acclimated to human contact.
The gruesome attack has sparked renewed calls for stricter wildlife ownership laws in Iraq. Local officials warned residents against keeping dangerous animals as pets, noting the difficulty of controlling such predators even in captivity. Forensic teams are investigating the exact circumstances of the mauling.