No one should have a tiger or a lion as a pet—these big cats belong in the wild or with a reputable wildlife organization who will care for them.
And yet there are sick people out there buying and selling these animals as “exotic” pets, breeding them as cubs and setting them up for a lifetime of misery.
This is often an illegal, black market trade… so Australian citizens were shocked to find a listing offering to sell these cubs on Facebook.
The ad reportedly offered “White lion cubs and Tiger cubs for sale,” and targeted people in Australia.
The ads promoted horror and outrage from people. Yahoo News Australia decided to investigate by reaching out to the seller, who claimed to be from Istanbul, Turkey but said they could ship the cats to Australia.
“We know all the importation requirements of Australia for exotic cats,” the seller told Yahoo via text. “You shall have no problem with custom [sic] and your local authorities of Australia as we shall provide all paperwork.”
The white lion cubs were offered for $1700 dollars, while the white tiger cubs were priced at $1550.
Animal rights group For the Love of Wildlife also got word of the ads and contacted the seller. They then sent the messages to the Department of Agriculture and Environment. The story was also reported to the ACCC Scamwatch.
So far, there is no word on an investigation or crackdown on these sellers, but according to the Daily Mail the penalty for wildlife trade offenses in Australia is ten years in jail or a fine of $210,000.
It’s shocking that this type of thing is still going on, let alone on Facebook. We hope justice is done and this barbaric trade is shut down immediately!
Spread the word by sharing this story!