Facebook ads for lion, tiger cubs reported to ScamWatch

Ads offering “tamed, hand fed, docile and very sociable” lion and tiger cubs for sale have been reported to authorities.

Social media pages advertising lion cubs, tigers and exotic birds to Australians have been reported to the consumer watchdog.

“We have hand raised lion and tiger cubs available for sale,” one seller in Turkey wrote.

“All our lion cubs are tamed, hand fed, docile and very sociable.”

Lion cubs were reportedly available for $1700 and tiger cubs for $1550.

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The seller reportedly told Yahoo News Australia they “know all the importation requirements of Australia for exotic cats” and “can deliver to you in Australia without any problem”, claiming to have imported wildlife into Sydney and Melbourne in 2012.

The seller also sent two videos of white tiger cubs playing in a room that looks like a prison cell, while another video showed American tourists playing with young tigers to prove they had the animals.

Unverified video sent to Yahoo that the animals actually exist.

An ad claiming to have tiger cubs for sale.

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The Turkish seller said the lion cubs were $1700 while white tiger cubs a slightly more attainable $1550 but it’s not known if the ads are genuine.

The ads have been reported to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s ScamWatch division.

A young tiger reportedly offered for sale.

Animal welfare charity For The Love of Wildlife founder Donalea Patman told Yahoo a concerned Facebook user told her about the ads earlier this month.

Facebook has been struggling to keep animal ads off its platform.

The sale of wildlife goes against Facebook’s “policies” but that has not prevented them from appearing.

Ms Patman told Yahoo the system Australia uses to enforce strict quarantines on wildlife permits needs modernising, saying it “hasn’t been updated since the 70s and is mostly paper-based”.