Wild animal cubs growing trend among Turkey’s rich kids

Melis Alphan ISTANBUL

A trend among Turkey’s rich kids – feeding wild animals inside their houses – is growing, while looking after such animals in private houses is forbidden.

Sharing photos of their lion or tiger cubs either inside their houses or in their backyards has become a growing trend among children from wealthy families, but according to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), which has been in force in Turkey since 1996, wild animals such as lions and tigers can be imported only for zoo or circus purposes and with a CITES permission certificate.

Sources from the Forestry Ministry said there was no code for taking care of “aggressive” wild animals in private houses and thus a permit for such an act could not be prepared, adding that permission from CITES could also not be received.

According to the regulations regarding hunting and wild animals, possessing products made from these animals, real and legal entities are allowed to look after up to 10 mammals or reptiles that are not “predators, aggressive and poisonous.”

Sanctions, varying from warnings to fines or to seizing the animals, need to be imposed on individuals who own such wild animals, according to Land Hunting and Protection of Animals laws.

A comment under a girls’ Instagram photo, which shows her lying in bed with her tiger cub, asked if there was an illegal hunter they knew.