An eight-year-old girl was injured on Thursday after a pet lioness attacked her in Lahore’s Bhekewal Pind area, police confirmed.
The victim, identified as Rabia, suffered injuries to her leg and ear. Rescue teams shifted her to Shaikh Zayed Medical Complex for treatment. Hospital officials said the child is no longer in danger.
Police and teams from the Punjab Wildlife Department reached the scene shortly after the incident. Acting on instructions from Faisal Kamran, DIG Operations Lahore, police took the lioness into custody and arrested its owners.
According to investigators, the animal was being kept illegally at a private residence without a valid wildlife license. Officials said keeping wild animals without permission violates provincial wildlife laws.
LAHORE: The recovery of 11 illegally kept lions from Nawan Kot has raised serious concerns over wildlife monitoring in Punjab. The action followed an incident in which a lioness injured a young girl. All big cats have been shifted to Lahore Safari Park, while cases have been… pic.twitter.com/pjeTnIk4Z2
— Asif Mehmood (@imasifmehmood) January 22, 2026Further inquiries revealed that two suspects, identified as Bilawal and Shujaat, transported the lioness from Akbari Mandi in a rickshaw. At the time of the incident, three men were unloading the animal when it broke free and attacked the child.
Police said a case is being registered against three accused, including Azam Khokhar, under relevant legal provisions.
Rabia’s mother told authorities that her daughter had gone to her grandmother’s house to fetch water when the lioness attacked her outside the residence.
یہ بچی کوئی خبر نہیں ،یہ پنجاب حکومت کی ناکامی کی تصویر ہے۔آنکھوں میں خوف، چہرے پر اذیت وجہ؟ لاہور میں ایک شیرنی کا حملہ۔
وزیر اعلیی پنجاب مریم نواز شریف صاحبہ
جب شہر میں
آوارہ کتے آزاد،
قاتل ڈور بے لگام،
اور جنگلی جانور بے قابو ہوں
تو اسے حکومت نہیں، بدانتظامی کہتے ہیں۔ pic.twitter.com/xUaQ5MqqNn
— Qaisar Sharif (@Qaisarsharif555) January 21, 2026Authorities warned that strict legal action would be taken against anyone found keeping wild animals illegally. Officials stressed that such practices pose serious risks to public safety.
The incident follows a similar case last year in Lahore’s Shah Di Khui area, where a man illegally kept a lion that later attacked a family. The incident injured three people, including two children.
In that case, wildlife officials confiscated the animal and transferred it to a sanctuary. Police also registered an FIR against the owner under sections of the Wildlife Act and attempted murder laws. The attack occurred after the lion escaped from an unsecured enclosure at a farmhouse in Johar Town and entered a nearby residential street.
