PATTAYA – Authorities in Pattaya uncovered the house of a foreign open-top Bentley driver and his lion cub on Tuesday.
This inspection followed netizens have shared widely a video clip of a foreigner driving an open top Bentley limousine with a young pet lioness next to him a he drives through a traffic-choke road in Pattaya.
Locals say the man would drive pass Soi Phra Tamnak 5 with his ‘pet’ daily. Some expressed concerns about potential danger and whether the wild animal is protected from being kept as a pet.
On January 23, around 5:30 p.m., Tourist Police officers, Immigration Police, Forestry Police, and National Park Department officials conducted an inspection of a residence in Soi Khao Pratumnak 5, Village No. 10, Nong Prue Subdistrict, Bang Lamung District, Chonburi Province.
This is a two-story detached house with a fence around its perimeter. The house was kept quiet, and no one came out to open the door. According to examination, the Bentley limousine is a rental vehicle from Phuket province.
Later, at 7:00 p.m., the lion’s owner’s lawyer arrived to meet with the officials, informing them that he had been authorised by the lion’s owner to come and negotiate with them. He then opened the door so the cops could enter and check in.
There were two animal cages: the first kept a lion, while the second held three dogs. The lion is a female lion cub, about nine months old. She is registered in Ratchaburi province, central Thailand, and owned by a Thai woman. Police officers then contacted this woman to come give more information about the lion.
A foreigner seen in the video is believed to be Sri Lankan. He asked for a meeting with officials to show lion possession documents on January 24 at Conservation Area Administration Office 2 (Sriracha).
Ms. Rita, 50, who lives in a condo next to this house, claimed she observed a foreigner keep this lion for over a month. Every evening, he would take the lion and the dogs in the Bentley limousine for a drive down the Dongtan-Jomtien beach.
