By Olaitan Ibrahim
In a gruesome twist of fate, a 50-year-old Iraqi man was savagely torn apart by the very beast he hoped to tame—his pet lion.
Aqil Fakhr al-Din, long known in the southern city of Kufa for keeping wild animals in his garden, met a horrifying end just days after bringing home the predator in a misguided attempt to domesticate it, the UK Sun reports.
According to police, the majestic killer devoured large parts of Aqil’s body in a shocking attack that has left the local community reeling.
The lion refused to leave the bloodied remains, forcing authorities to gun it down where it stood.
But it wasn’t the police who fired the first shot—his brave neighbour intervened before help arrived, reportedly emptying seven bullets from a Kalashnikov rifle to bring the bloodthirsty lion down.
Aqil was rushed to Al-Sadr Medical City Hospital, but his injuries were far too severe. He was declared dead on arrival.
The savage incident has since gone viral, with haunting images of the lifeless lion sprawled in the blood-soaked garden sparking outrage across social media.
Many are now questioning how a man with a known collection of wild animals was allowed to keep a deadly lion in his backyard—fueling fresh fury over Iraq’s notoriously weak enforcement of exotic wildlife laws.
Despite Iraq’s membership in global wildlife protection treaties, black market animal trafficking remains rampant.
Falcons, foxes, reptiles—even African primates and Asian big cats—are openly traded like pets in dusty markets or hoarded by the rich in private collections.