LAHORE: Lahore court has convicted TikToker and vlogger Rajab Ali Butt for the illegal possession of a lion cub and sentenced him to one year of community service which includes the creation of animal welfare content.
The order stated that the Probation Officer Maheen Solat will supervise the convict’s sentence, adding that the wildlife department should help Butt to produce his awareness content.
A special judicial magistrate Hamidul Rehman Nasir remarked that the accused pleaded guilty to the charge of having possession of a lion cub without any proper licence/permit.
According to the guilty verdict, “He will make/record a video in the form of a vlog with dedicated content on the animal’s right for a full five minutes in the first week of every month for a full year starting from February 2025 to January 2026.”
The magistrate noted that the convict steadfastly admitted his guilt, and “he demonstrated remorse over his action as he voluntarily pleaded that he be given a chance to do community service as a corrective measure.”
Earlier, the court ordered to handover of the recovered lion cub to the Lahore Wildlife Safari Zoo management as an interim arrangement.
Last month, Rajab Butt was arrested by the Punjab Wildlife Department team from his house for keeping a lion cub illegally. The Punjab Wildlife Department team along with police raided TikToker’s house located in Park View Society and took him into custody.
Police said that he was taken into custody for keeping an infant lion illegally. The lion cub was given to him in a cage by a TikToker Umar Dolla, who runs a YouTube channel called Lion Hub.
