In the wake of a menacing incident, Saudi Arabia authorities have urged people to stop keeping wild animals as pets due to a recent killing of a man by a lion in Riyadh.

With a strict urgency, the authorities warned people of keeping wild animals and illegal rearing of predators, after a lion mauled its keeper to death last week, on Thursday. A Saudi man in Riyadh who kept a lion in a private residence died of serious injuries he had sustained from an attack by the wild animal.

The relative of the victim said that he got the lion from a friend around two months back and that he kept it in his rest house in Eastern Riyadh. When the man went to offer food to the lion, early Thursday, the lion attacked the man, the relative told. “His shrieks drew the attention of workers at the rest house. One of them tried to hit the lion to leave its owner, but it was to no avail,” he further added.

 
The victim — who was 22 years old according to some social media reports — died of his injuries shortly after. Video footages of the dead lion believed to be the one who attacked the man has also been doing the rounds online.

Soon after the minacious incident, the governmental Saudi National Centre for Wildlife said that keeping predators are banned in the kingdom and highly dangerous.

Issuing an official statement, the authorities wrote, “Importing predators for personal or commercial purposes is banned under a royal decree. The centre has not licensed any such imports.”

The centre urged keepers of wild animals to contact it to arrange their handover; otherwise, they will be liable to the law. The authorities also called on Saudi citizens and expatriates to come forward and report about any case of rearing predators in urban areas.