An eight-year-old girl was injured after being attacked by a pet lioness in Lahore’s Iqbal Town area, prompting police to launch a major crackdown on illegal wildlife possession.

The incident occurred in the Bhikaywal katchi abadi, where the lioness attacked the child, leaving her with serious injuries to her head, ear and leg.

She was shifted to Sheikh Zayed Hospital, where she is receiving medical treatment.

DIG Operations Lahore Faisal Kamran took immediate notice of the incident and ordered strict legal action against those responsible.

According to Lahore Police, the suspects, identified as Bilawal and Shujaat, were unloading the pet lioness from a rickshaw when it suddenly attacked the child. The suspects fled the scene along with the animal.

Following the attack, police carried out a major operation based on intelligence and recovered 11 illegally kept lions.

Those seized included five lionesses, three lions and three lion cubs, while the suspects were arrested.

Police said the lions were being kept inside a factory in the Nawan Kot area, where embroidery work was underway on the ground floor, and the animals were confined to the first floor.

DIG Faisal Kamran said the lions had been moved from Sheikhupura to Lahore a few months earlier and the suspects had no legal licence to keep them in the city.

Cases have been registered against the suspects, and the animals have been handed over to the wildlife department.

Police confirmed that the lioness involved in the attack and her owners have been arrested following an extensive search operation.

DIG Faisal Kamran said the suspects had endangered not only human lives but also the lives of the animals, adding that strict action was being taken under the law.