A lion cub exploited in a video clip: appeal hearing on 17 February in Paris

The events date back to 2017. Thanks to images posted on social media, the authorities discovered that a young feline was being held in an apartment in Seine-Saint-Denis. Presented as a ‘little tiger’, it was in fact a lion cub. Purchased for a video clip from circus performers based in Normandy, then transported by car to Seine-Saint-Denis, it found itself locked up in an apartment in Noisy-le-Sec.

A stolen childhood

At this age, a lion cub should be suckling its mother and beginning to learn about life. But, confined to the back of a circus trailer, separated from his family too soon, the cub was immediately subjected to greed and exploitation. When police officers found him in Noisy-le-Sec, he was suffering from multiple conditions – dehydration, parasites, nutritional deficiencies – and had a broken tooth and wounds on his nose and skull. Seized in extremis, he was taken into care at a shelter.

The man being prosecuted admitted to having looked for a lion cub for the filming of a video clip. He admitted to having brought him from a circus and keeping him in an apartment, then, on the day of his arrest, claimed that he no longer had him in his possession. How can such acts be justified and how can one claim to be caring for an animal that was purchased illegally and then transported from one flat to another in order to hide it from the authorities? His lies did not last long: the young animal was found the same day, weak, injured and traumatised in the flat.

Circus performers willing to do anything

This case is not an isolated one. The networks involving circuses feed other markets, particularly those of taxidermists, where animals, whether alive or dead, are nothing more than commodities.

In 2018, the young lioness Cersei was seized by customs after passing through the same networks. These cases are part of the activities that we have been denouncing for years, particularly trafficking and mistreatment.

On 17 February at 9am, the Court of Appeal in Paris will once again examine this case. We will be present in court to defend this lion cub and to remind everyone that animals are individuals in their own right. Take action with us, sign and share our petition so that circus animals finally have a voice.

Update 17.02.2026

The verdict will be handed down on 24 March.

A lion cub exploited in a music video: appeal hearing on 17 February in Paris

Sold by a circus, mistreated and locked up in an apartment, a lion cub will be at the centre of an appeal hearing on 17 February.