People spend lakhs of rupees and make special arrangements to make their big day memorable. In this era of social media, people go to any length to make their wedding photoshoots stand out and flaunt it on internet by posting pictures.
In a glaring example, a couple from Pakistan also did a different photoshoot to make their wedding memorable. The couple recently posed with a lion cub during the wedding. As soon as the pictures and videos of the wedding went viral, allegations of giving drugs to the cub started.
Claims were made that the young animal was sedated and used as a prop just for fame. Angry netizens demanded action against the couple and the studio owners.
The photos were first shared on Instagram story of Studio Afzl, a Lahore-based photography studio that does bridal photoshoots and covers weddings.
In the footage, which has sparked a huge backlash on social media, the couple can be seen holding hands while the lion cub lies between them. The videos were accompanied by the hashtag #SherdiRani to emphasise on the presence of the cub.
Save the Wild, an animal welfare organisation in Pakistan, shared the footage on Twitter, highlighting the incident as a case of animal cruelty and requesting that the lion cub be rescued from the studio.
JFK Animal Rescue and Shelter, another group which highlighted the incident on its social media, said that the cub was being kept at the photography studio itself.
However, owing to the backlash, the studio clarified they don’t own the animal and that it was not tranquilised either. It also said that the animal’s owner was also present during the shoot.
The studio further claimed that the animal was not sedated or harmed in any way but was “enjoying and living freely”. They also shared two short boomerang videos of the cub to support their claim.