In a viral video, a Kurdish man was captured smashing a cake on the face of a pet lion, rescued as a cub.

The video uploaded by a Twitter user, Daniel Schneider, is receiving a lot of outrage on social media for ‘animal abuse’.

In the video, a group of men is sitting around the lion, when one of them throws an entire cake on the face of the animal. As the humans around it laugh, the lion shakes its head and tries to get the cake off its face.

Netizens are furious over the actions of the men in the video-

The person smashing the cake is identified as Blend Brifkani, Head of a local NGO called the Kurdish American Cooperation Organisation and the lion is apparently known as Leo.

Latestly

Responding to the flak around his act, Brifkani shared an Instagram post, where he apologised for letting his ’emotions of excitement’ take over him. He said that the animal is a ‘very best friend’ of his-

I have never intentionally intended to abuse Leo, moreover, I would never want to hurt him in any way. The birthday video of me and Leo was pure emotions of overwhelmingness and excitement that I had while celebrating his birthday. He has grown to be my very best friend and I love him beyond words

Read the post here-

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I have never intentionally intended to abuse Leo, moreover, I would never want to hurt him in any way. The birthday video of me and Leo was pure emotions of overwhelmingness and excitement that I had while celebrating his birthday. He has grown to be my very best friend and I love him beyond words. When I found him in the wilderness, he was alone, small and weak without a mother. If he had gotten into the wrong hands, he wouldn’t have made it alive. I provided him a safe home, a good environment, veterinary care and everything needed to sustain the his health until he grew. My plan was never to keep him in captivity, but rather raise him until he was well enough and old enough to be let out into the wild again. I have built my organization on rescuing endangered animals, raising them, providing them with all the care and treatment that they need and then releasing them back into their natural habitat. One of my yearly projects include releasing captivated wild bears into the mountains, where they belong. I admit, it was wrong for throwing a cake in Leo’s face, I have let my emotions of excitement take over and I apologize to those whom I have offended. I’m not an animal abuser, I love animals! I’m constantly working on projects that show how important animals are to me, especially Leo and how much I care for his well-being. I assure you that Leo is safe and will soon return to the wild. Thank you @m.bamerni #cnn #bbc #dailymail #rudaw #lion #animals #animalrights #peta #kurdistan #iraq @dailymail @rudaw @bbc @cnn @babylonfm @peta @rickygervais @lionwhisperersa

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