Lion fatally attacks owner in southern Iraq

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - A lion fatally attacked its owner on Thursday in the southern Iraqi province of Najaf, consuming most of his body before being put down by the authorities.

“Today in a garden in the city of Kufa in Najaf, a citizen was attacked by a lion in his own garden and died immediately,” Mufid Tahir, spokesperson for the Najaf Police, told Rudaw.

“The lion had eaten a large portion of the man's body, and because the lion refused to leave the remains, we were forced to shoot and kill it,” he added.

The victim, a 50-year-old man, had been keeping lions and other wild animals in his garden for years, according to Tahir.

Iraq has long struggled with illegal wildlife trafficking, fueled by years of instability, weak enforcement, and high demand. Hunters and smugglers often exploit the lack of regulation to capture and sell rare species.

Falcons from Iraq’s southern plains and birds and foxes from the remote Kurdistan Region mountains are frequent targets of this lucrative black market. Meanwhile, rare and exotic animals are also smuggled into Iraq and the Kurdistan Region to be sold at high prices.

Although Iraq signed the Convention on the Protection of Animals in 2014 - which aims to regulate the global trade in wildlife and animal products - illegal trafficking remains widespread across the country.