CAIRO: The Egyptian government has intervened and arrested a man who had attempted to promote tourism through a public battle between himself and a lion. According to the country's ministry of tourism and Egyptian animal welfare activists who had been following the ordeal, El-Sayad al-Essawy has been arrested and is currently under investigation. Early indications from the ministry are that the man is mentally ill. It is unclear what exactly will happen to him and if he will be charged with a crime. According to activists, the man had not actually bought a lion on the black market. Minister of Tourism Munir Fakhry Abdel-Nour said in public statements that “under no circumstance will the Ministry of Tourism tolerate any degree of inhumane acts against animals.” His comments come as a number of foreign nationals, and potential tourists, had spoken out against the “battle” saying they would not come to Egypt if the event went as planned. “This is disgusting, to fight a lion to death to raise public attention is so wrong,” one animal rights activist in Egypt said in an email to Bikya Masr detailing the situation. According to local reports, an Egyptian citizen purchased a lion for around 25,000 Egyptian pounds – in violation of stated international wildlife regulations – and is “”to fight the lion to death with swords.” It has been learned that the lion was in fact not purchased. Egyptian Arabic newspaper al-Youm al-Saba'a said the idea was to “raise public attention and media to invite tourists to Egypt.” “It is simply shocking to me that anyone would think that the vast majority of tourists that are thinking about coming to Egypt, or are in Egypt right now, would want to see this fight actually take place,” said Helen Reese, a British national who has lived in Egypt for over two years and is an ardent animal activist. “I just wish that there was a stronger movement to stop this cruelty,” she added. BM
