A lion cub bite sends a scare racing through Chinese social media and triggers police checks at Phuket wildlife cafes. Yet the image driving the storm is from December 2025, while the tourist’s recent bite happened at an unnamed attraction.
A scare story based on an incident from December last year prompted Phuket police into action this week. Police launched a blitz on lion cafes across the resort island as claims of a Chinese tourist being bitten spread online. The story took off on Chinese social media, where negative reports about Thailand are a particularly popular genre. However, officers found the viral photograph was months old, while the recent lion cub bite involved a separate, unnamed cafe. Police found the businesses inspected were properly licensed, with their lions documented and vaccinated.
A viral lion attack scare has forced Phuket police into two wildlife cafes after alarming photographs spread online. The pictures fuelled claims that a Chinese tourist had been attacked at a Phuket lion attraction.
However, Chalong police found the most prominent photograph did not show a fresh attack. Instead, the cafe manager dated it to around December 2025.
Separately, Chinese media have reported a recent lion cub bite involving a tourist in Phuket. That incident remains tied to an unnamed cafe. The tourist said a cub bit their arm during a paid encounter and broke the skin. Staff reportedly wiped the wound with iodine and said a rabies vaccination was unnecessary. The visitor ignored that advice and paid for vaccination independently.
Police inspect Phuket lion cafe and find valid licences as viral attack photograph proves months old
The growing online storm brought Chalong Police Station into the case on Tuesday, August 11. Police Colonel Surasak Jaidee, the station superintendent, led an inspection of Lion Cafe. Officers reached the Chalong subdistrict premises at about 4 pm. They immediately began checking the business and its two lions.
Notably, police found Lion Cafe held a valid operating licence. Officers also examined ownership documents covering both animals. Those records were complete. In parallel, they checked vaccination histories and found both lions had current rabies and tetanus vaccinations. Happy Paws Animal Hospital had certified the records.
Attention then turned to the photograph racing across social media. Officers found no evidence of a recent incident matching the image at Lion Cafe. The manager told them the picture was old. It had been taken around December 2025, according to the manager.
As a result, police found nothing establishing a fresh attack there during August. The finding also separated the viral image from the recent tourist account reported in China. Crucially, Chinese reports had not named the cafe where that bite reportedly occurred.
The tourist described a very different and recent encounter. They had paid for an interaction session with a lion cub at a Phuket cafe. During that session, the cub bit their arm hard enough to break the skin.
Chinese tourist pays for rabies vaccination after lion cub bite breaks skin at unnamed Phuket cafe
According to the account, cafe staff treated the wound with iodine. Staff then assured the visitor that the lions had been vaccinated against rabies. They reportedly said another rabies vaccination was unnecessary.
Despite that assurance, the tourist remained uneasy. They sought medical treatment independently and paid for rabies vaccination while still in Thailand. On August 10, Xiaoxiang Morning Herald spoke directly with the visitor about the incident.
The tourist subsequently reported a mild fever and soreness in the affected arm. No serious health problems followed. Fever and injection-site soreness are common side effects of rabies vaccination. Importantly, those reactions do not indicate that the vaccination has failed.
Within hours, the account was spreading across major Chinese online platforms. Sina, NetEase, Tencent News and Sohu all carried reports about the case. The incident also generated widespread discussion among Chinese social media users.
One widely shared comment focused on the danger posed even by young lions. A cub remains a wild animal and can injure someone while playing or teething, it said. The comment urged anyone bitten or scratched to wash the wound immediately and visit hospital.
Thai rabies guidance urges rapid vaccination as police widen checks to second Phuket lion attraction
For its part, Thai health guidance treats skin-breaking animal bites and scratches as possible rabies exposure. People should wash the wound thoroughly with soap and running water. They should then obtain rabies vaccination as quickly as possible.
Significantly, that advice applies regardless of assurances concerning an animal’s vaccination history. Rabies is almost always fatal once symptoms appear. There is no treatment once the disease reaches that stage.
Thailand also continues to record rabies deaths in most years. In May, a man in Ubon Ratchathani died after being scratched by a puppy. The Phuket tourist’s account therefore attracted considerable attention after reaching Chinese social media.
Meanwhile, Tuesday’s police operation moved beyond Lion Cafe. Officers also inspected Lion Land Phuket, another lion attraction operating in Chalong subdistrict. Again, investigators concentrated on licences, animal records and legal compliance.
At Lion Land Phuket, police found a valid public health hazardous business licence. Chalong Subdistrict Municipality had issued the document. Officers also checked records covering the lions kept at the premises. All the animals were properly documented.
Tourist Police clear lion records and licences as staff receive strict rules for customer encounters
On another front, Phuket Tourist Police carried out separate checks. Officers examined the lions’ vaccination records and the company’s trade registration. They also inspected its public health hazardous business licences.
Those checks produced no paperwork problems. Tourist Police confirmed that the vaccination records were in order. The business’s trade registration and relevant public health licences were also valid.
Even so, officers issued instructions covering future tourist encounters with the animals. Staff must closely monitor each lion’s behaviour and mood. They must also supervise the animals whenever customers are nearby.
As part of this, employees were told to follow correct procedures during customer interaction sessions. Police said the measures were intended to prevent incidents. They were also aimed at reassuring visitors about safety.
The scrutiny comes amid the growth of lion cafes across major Thai tourism centres. Such attractions now operate in Phuket, Chiang Mai and Bangkok. Customers can pay several hundred to several thousand baht for close encounters.
Thai law controls lion ownership as Phuket’s wildlife cafes face a history of raids and seizures
Typically, those sessions allow visitors to sit near cubs and pose for photographs. Yet lions remain controlled wildlife under Thai law. They are covered by Thailand’s Wild Animal Conservation and Protection Act.
Consequently, people keeping lions require official permission to possess them. The animals must also remain at their registered address. Their ownership and location are therefore subject to legal controls.
Phuket has previously seen those rules tested in enforcement operations. In February 2024, officials seized a lion cub known as Nong Kiwi. Investigators found the animal had never been registered.
Furthermore, officials determined that Nong Kiwi was being kept below the required standard. The seizure became one of Phuket’s prominent cases involving privately kept lions.
Less than a year later, another lion attraction drew police attention. Officers raided a cafe in Ratsada, Phuket, in January 2025. Lion cubs there were being used for paid photography sessions.
During that operation, police arrested two Chinese nationals. Both had entered Thailand using tourist visas. Officers found they were working without permits.
Police find old viral image unrelated to fresh bite as two Phuket lion cafes pass document checks
Neither enforcement case is linked to the tourist bite reported this week. Nor is either connected to Tuesday’s Chalong inspections. They remain separate examples of earlier enforcement involving Phuket lion attractions.
In contrast, Tuesday’s operation centred on claims spreading internationally through social media. Police needed to establish whether the viral photograph showed a fresh attack. Their inspection found no evidence that it did.
At Lion Cafe, the manager dated the image to around December 2025. Police also found a valid operating licence at the business. Ownership records covering its two lions were complete.
Moreover, both animals had current rabies and tetanus vaccination records. Happy Paws Animal Hospital had certified those vaccinations. Nothing uncovered during the inspection showed the photographed incident had recently occurred there.
Across Chalong, Lion Land Phuket also passed the document checks described by police. Its public health hazardous business licence was valid. Records covering its lions were complete.
Chinese tourist bite remains separate as police trace viral lion photograph back to December 2025
Likewise, Phuket Tourist Police found its trade registration and vaccination documents in order. The findings left the recent Chinese tourist case standing apart from both inspections.
The visitor’s account remains straightforward. A lion cub reportedly bit their arm during a paid encounter at an unnamed Phuket cafe. The bite broke the skin.
Initially, staff treated the wound using iodine. They reportedly said rabies vaccination was unnecessary because the cafe’s lions had already been vaccinated. The tourist decided otherwise.
Instead, the visitor obtained rabies vaccination independently and paid the cost personally. Afterwards, they experienced fever and soreness but reported no serious medical problems.
Soon afterwards, the story surged through Chinese online media. That attention placed Phuket’s lion attractions under renewed scrutiny. It also pushed the old photograph into wider circulation.
In response, Chalong Police Station said its inspections were designed to verify the facts. Officers wanted to prevent misunderstanding caused by images spreading through social media. They also checked whether businesses keeping controlled animals were operating legally.
By Tuesday afternoon, those checks had produced a clear split between the circulating claims. The photograph connected online with Lion Cafe was old. The manager placed it around December 2025.
Conversely, the Chinese tourist’s bite was a recent report involving an unnamed Phuket cafe. The supplied information establishes no connection between that incident and Lion Cafe.
Police order close supervision of lion encounters after checks find licensed and documented animals
Beyond that distinction, police found both Chalong businesses held the relevant licences examined during Tuesday’s operation. Their lions also had the ownership and vaccination records checked by officers.
Nevertheless, police left staff with firm operating instructions. Lion behaviour and mood must be watched closely during tourist visits. Customer interactions must remain supervised throughout.
฿6 million cloned pet, a bulldog who died in 2023 at 9 years old still recalled owner’s Thai commands
Pattaya goes viral worldwide with images showing a lion cub in a Bentley car cruising the city’s streets
Above all, Tuesday’s investigation stripped the viral photograph of its claim to being a fresh Phuket attack. Police found no evidence supporting that interpretation.
The separate Chinese tourist case remains exactly that: separate. The visitor reported a real bite at an unnamed cafe and sought rabies vaccination independently.
For Phuket police, the immediate task was establishing what happened and where. Their inspections found licensed businesses and documented lions in Chalong. They also found an old photograph being circulated as something new.
Join the Thai News forum, follow Thai Examiner on Facebook here
Receive all our stories as they come out on Telegram here
Follow Thai Examiner here
Further reading:
Underworld surrogacy trade exposed, man arrested for smuggling semen from Thailand into Laos
Fear-mongering, fake news and disinformation being stoked in China against visiting Thailand
Chinese tourists arrested on kidnapping and extortion charges insist they are innocent
Chinese man linked to organised crime arrested at luxury Pattaya mansion after shooting policemen
Four Chinese men arrested after hideous murder of a Chinese tourist and his wife last Monday night
