Animal Rights parliamentary secretary Alicia Bugeja Said confirmed that an attempt to relocate four lions and a panther from a Naxxar enclosure has failed.

Bugeja Said gave Lovin Malta an update on the lions that were found in an unregistered enclosure last January.

She said their owner has been instructed to upgrade the enclosure to meet the required animal welfare standards, while legal action is being taken against him in line with the law regulating the ownership of dangerous animals.

“The option of relocating the animals has not been ruled out. Relocation had been considered previously, but the attempt was unsuccessful,” she said.

Bugeja Said confirmed that the lions and leopard don’t have physical issues.

“They have a good body condition score, there is water available all the time, there are no signs of major traumas or injuries on them, not old and neither recent,” she said.

“There are no stereotypical behaviours, no excessive aggression, no evident behavioural signs of frustration or other negative behavioural signs which may indicate poor welfare of these animals.”

A group of animal activists recently staged a protest in front of the Marsa abattoir to pressure the government to send the big cats to a sanctuary overseas.