The popular website Vice have featured Kuwait again, this time in a negative light since they highlight the illegal wild animals people in Kuwait are keeping as pets. The video is nearly half an hour long and features interviews with some of the owners and traders of exotic pets. Hopefully now that this video is out authorities will take action and confiscate the animals but I highly doubt anything will come of it. Truly embarrassing. [YouTube]
Thanks Habib
44 replies on “The Illegal Big Cats of Kuwait”
Just saw the documentary on my Youtube subscription feed, I have mix feelings to be honest, this story is a double edged sword.
The lion owner in the video (@swakll) isn’t part of the elite. He’s a naturalized citizen with third-class citizenship. If anything, that guy is part of the opposition. Vice should do some research before making bizarre claims.
go choke on d’s.
“third-class citizenship”?? who talks like that this day and age? and what is he was part of the opposition? you ignorance doesnt resonate with the average decent reader.
Disagree or even hate the guy for his adoption of wild animals but dont be acting super kuwaiti and insult half the population in the proccess. yal film
did he really say “allah yr7ama” (may god have mercy on him) about saddam??? wow.
He’s probably a Iraqi originally and just got a Citizenship via corruption and kissing “High peoples noses” I’d rather give Kumar a citizenship to be honest. Scum, Traitor, Should be charged with Treason. Knowing how the government works I’d probably be prosecuted and charged for this comment. -.- GG
Only 200,000 real kuwaitis. My grandad always says. Keep you eye out on the fakes.
you wont this is not the u.a.e.
Probably from Iraq originally and hoped that Saddam would conquer Kuwait successfully. Should be charged with treason, but Kuwaiti officials need scum to do the dirty work.
As a proud feminist I’m ashamed!
what the hell does feminism have to do with it? keep your stupid comments to yourself
The prophet (SAS) taught us to have respect for the dead, and to pray for people no matter how bad they are.
You’re an idiot if you think Saddam should be respected.
did he just say : allah yir7m saddam
@ 19:44 ?
yeah wth, I mentioned it above too.
When the inevitable happens and these predators maul their owners, it will be rightly deserved.
Murrka at it again.
btw, did anyone realize @26:00 she says “her employer can’t be named but what we can tell you is that he was a SOLDIER and had 2 lions, one of which was PREGNANT” with a blurred image of swakll in the back?
No shit
If he really cared about the animals which he obviously doesn’t and only does it for the attention, he would put them somewhere safe and where they can be raised properly with trained professionals. He could donate to the Zoo, or help fund expansion, sell all his show off super cars and help fund a brand new state of the art Zoo in Kuwait built for the specific reason of saving illegally traded wild animals.
Greedy, rich and pompous. He does it all for fame, similar to how a child yells for attention when no one is noticing them. And to top it all off, he tells the authorities that a dog bit the poor maid? 10 days? He should be tried for involuntary manslaughter, but nah nothings going to happen. Money and wasta are the essence of Kuwait.
And the cherry on top, he says Allah yr7ama about Saddam Hussein. Wow.
+1
not disagreeing with what you said, but donating those animals to the zoo would barely be a step above killing them
nor is it his job or any other private individual’s to “fund a brand new state of the art zoo”
Well, he made it his job to illegally obtain smuggled wild animals. And he even admitted to directly commissioning smuggling from Africa. So if we’re discussing what people’s jobs should be…yeah I would say the court seizing funds from him and the strata of the super rich criminals like him, an amount adequate for a state of the art *wildlife reserve*…sounds like a pretty good idea. Apparently they have nothing better to do with it and were going to invest it on those animals anyway. Let’s help these guys with their admirable motives, to do it right. He said how much he loved them. Stiff fines and directed community service to reach a goal to sustain the victims of their selfish behavior is an ideal solution. Or job.
Its all fun and games until your head morphs into lamb chops in his eyes.
reached the halfway mark and then just quit…
I think there should a campaign similar to the weapon gathering one, but with exotic animals.
Yea this is a very sad video for many reasons:
– i cant believe the animal market (friday market) still exists..
– the attitude of the cat owner in the video, is typical of a rich spoiled bored arab … no real reason given for what he does just for show..
-a dolphin in his pool really? cool story bro..
-the women almost got seriously messed up by the lion in the end, i dont think she realizes how close that was.
– the saddam comment… enough said.
-then he argues how he gets annoyed that others tell him he should release the animals in the wild, his rationale is even more disturbing and sad than the whole video combined.
I sincerely hope one day his lions eat him
Yea this is a very sad video for many reasons:
– i cant believe the animal market (friday market) still exists..
– the attitude of the cat owner in the video, is typical of a rich spoiled bored arab … no real reason given for what he does just for show..
-a dolphin in his pool really? cool story bro..
-the women almost got seriously messed up by the lion in the end, i dont think she realizes how close that was.
– the saddam comment… enough said.
-then he argues how he gets annoyed that others tell him he should release the animals in the wild, his rationale is even more disturbing and sad than the whole video combined.
– he cant imagine life without his big wild cats??
The middle east is the worst place for most animals to be..
Where is islams mercy and compassion? oh wait you pray 5 times a day , you are going to heaven, check.
I sincerely hope one day his lions eat him
its not up to him or right of him to decide that an animals fate in captivity is more a happier existence for it than to be free in the wild given its inherent risks.
so a person that is trapped in a palace, leashed, with everything he desires, safe from harm is happier than a person who is free to roam as he pleases despite the higher risks ? (example a car accident or bieng robbed)….
such bull..
one thing is for certain this is a lonely man
There’s all kinds of wrong in this video besides the idiot whisperer Swallows. Where is the cannibal guy who was eating the live rabbit? She should have let Hanan interview him, now that would have been a sight to see. Besides the Saddam comment I see that Drag 965 is all up in the illegal animal scene and I noticed at 21:27 the singer from Kuwait Miami is there as well.
Swallows has all this supposed money but can’t impress with his English skills, he sounds like a caveman with his grunts. Who is he really? He has that fat guy as his manager who tries to sound gangster when he mentions the location where they ‘chill’ and an ‘entourage’ of losers to accompany him to the desert.
Time to unfollow Drag 965 and boycott the Kuwait Miami singer.
Please, Take your feminism elsewhere.
They are a bunch of idiots, don’t go a step further with this boycott Miami bullshit.
Get off your high horse. I won’t type argue on this matter.
Don’t argue with an idiot, they will drag you down to their level and beat you with experience. Just saying :).
You don’t have to be the idiot, just recognize who is.
what a bunch of scum. I’m shocked a kuwaiti would pray for saddam *sigh*
For the same very reason there was Fateha recited on OBLs death in some mosques around Kuwait!!
The explanation offered then and the explanation offered today wouldn’t be different at all – it’ll all be linked to Islam and how they both were Muslims so it’s obligatory to ask Allah for kindness on them.
For those asking for action on the guy, this is such a catch 22, dammed if you order an enquiry, doomed if you don’t.
For some reason i still find many Khaleeji’s on Instagram and Twitter who are sympathetic about Saddam. Any idea why?
trolls.
You know the point of the documentary is lost when everyone seems more bothered by the Saddam comment.
Also the guy’s dead. So what someone wants God to show him mercy? And what if God (whatever you believe of the entity) DOES choose to show mercy. Is that anyone’s business?
i find it weird that people are upset about the illegal animal trade here but dont realise that we run a perfectly legal human market as well that most of us take part in.
Also the fact that of all the sad things mentioned above. the filipino maid mauled to death is mentioned once if at all? Then again why am i surprised.
+1
Bro, you deserve a HUG..!!
Probably because that would be off topic? Both issues you mention are incredibly important. But they were not the primary subject of this documentary, which is the primary subject of the thread. It’s not exactly fair to stand on a soapbox because the other players in the room are generally agreeing to discuss *this* subject right now. I could act self righteous and say “well what about all the people suffering from hunger while those lions are well fed?”….but that isn’t the primary subject of this documentary. Make your own documentary and or even just your own feed about the subject if that’s what you want to talk about instead. But frankly, it didn’t seem like you had much to say about those subjects in the end, either.
Well, I think it’s rather absurd that the hypocrite “swakll” talks about how he couldn’t live life without his lions, yet, kills and burns both of them. This Vice episode did not cover anything new about what idiots around this country do. The blonde reporter did a poor job asking the “hard questions”. Instead, she promotes owning these illegal pets indirectly, by being so excited and happy to get the privellage to hangout with the “elites” (so not true btw) and their exotic pets. She also deceives and mislead those idiots to make an interview that I highly doubt they knew the purpose for.
“The popular website Vice have featured Kuwait again”. When did they feature kuwait before this? Do you have the links or the names of the documentaries in which kuwait was covered?
I’m not on my computer but if u search the blog for vice U should find a previous post
While I noticed the Saddam comment, what do you expect him to say, Allah yir7ama, is the traditional statement to speak about a person who had passed away, A muslim must be kind and understanding to all, even those who hurt him, The prophet Mohammed did not wish his enemies pain or harm even after death, He asked for God’s mercy towards them because they were uneducated. Treat others no matter how bad how you would treat yourself, call him out for treason but the man is just following a pillar of Islam, to be respectful and better than others when they expect you to be at their worst. I see it as strange, yes and I would never do it myself, but I can understand why he would say it, even more because he was probably an Iraqi prior. Does it make him a sympathiser, we wouldn’t know to be honest. Point being, The animals are meant to be the main and most important part of this documentary and their mistreatment.
I hope authorities do NOT confiscate these animals. Since these owners treat them like family and authorities would surely treat them like garbage. You all know how authorities are here with animals so dont give me crap. I would see these animals happy in sight of their best friends like in the video rather than in cages locked up and awaiting slaughter since our government will not know what else to do. The right cause of action is taking greater measures and less wasta allowing these exotic animals IN kuwait in the first place. God im getting tired of this.