Shahid Afridi seems to have a chained lion at home; concerned Netizens seethe in anger

Given how these animals' natural habitat is the jungle, Shahid Afridi's picture of a chained lion drew flak from the Internet. Many accused him of depriving the animals of a natural habitat, and hence doing the exact opposite of what his tweet's message was about — caring for them.

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Shahid Afridi took to Twitter to share two pictures — one that shows him bottle-feeding a deer and another of his little daughter standing with her hands raised, with a chained lion in the background. (Source: Shahid Afridi/Twitter, Mia_Utopian/Twitter)

A recent tweet of former Pakistani cricketer Shahid Afridi emphasising on the importance of taking care of and being considerate to animals has kickstarted a Twitter hailstorm, and definitely not in a good way. The former captain of the Pakistan national cricket team took to the micro-blogging site to tweet out two pictures — one that shows him bottle-feeding a deer and another of his little daughter standing with her hands raised, with a chained lion in the background. Given how these animals’ natural habitat is the jungle, the pictures instantly drew flak from the Internet users, who accused the cricketer of depriving the animals of a natural habitat to thrive in and therefore, doing the exact opposite of what his tweet’s message was about — caring for them.

“Great to spend time with loved ones. Best feeling in the world to have my daughter copy my wicket taking celebrations. And yes don’t forget to take care of animals, they too deserve our love and care :)” read the caption of his tweet.

“Shahid Afridi has a pet lion who is confined at his home and it’s chained, this is so barbaric and inhumane poor creature should be in its natural habitat, running & hunting . where are animals protection organisations. F*** your wealth & fame if it doesn’t give you compassion,” “I’m absolutely appalled with what #ShahidAfridi is doing. You can’t keep a #lion out of its natural habitat all chained up & then claim that u r loving animals. The lion looks weak & so done with life. I feel so bad for it,” wrote enraged Twitter users upon seeing the pictures.

Here is his tweet.

Great to spend time with loved ones. Best feeling in the world to have my daughter copy my wicket taking celebrations. And yes don’t forget to take care of animals, they too deserve our love and care :) pic.twitter.com/CKPhZd0BGD

— Shahid Afridi (@SAfridiOfficial) June 9, 2018

Check out the responses doing the rounds of the micro-blogging site here.

Shabash Shahid bhai…….great message. Proud of you. 👍🏻👍🏻 pic.twitter.com/qNXAHZEQL9

— PhD in Bakchodi (@Atheist_Krishna) June 10, 2018

The lion shouldn’t be amongst people and it should not be tied up like that

— Sabeen Syed🌏 (@SabeenGeopol) June 10, 2018

Exactly that’s what i thought
Lion is a wild habitant and it can never be friendly to humans
He will go by his basic instinct
And can give lethal and life threating injuries … To its masters even

Hope khan lala realised this soon and let it go to its own. World

— 🆂♓🅰🅺🅴🅴🅻 🇵🇰 (@shakeeel88) June 10, 2018

Shahid Afridi has a pet lion who is confined at his home and it’s chained, this is so barbaric and inhumane poor creature should be in its natural habitat, running & hunting . where are animals protection organisations. Fuck your wealth & fame if it doesn’t give you compassion

— Rainbow (@pavlovscat8) June 9, 2018

I’m absolutely appalled with what #ShahidAfridi is doing. You can’t keep a #lion out of its natural habitat all chained up & then claim that u r loving animals. The lion looks weak & so done with life. I feel so bad for it. #PETA #AnimalRights #cricket #Pakistan pic.twitter.com/IiphTknlhX

— Mia Utopian (@mia__utopian) June 9, 2018

How important do you think it is for Afridi to set the right example and not treat wild animals as pets but let them free into the natural habitat that they truly belong? Let us know in the comments’ section below.