Eighteen lions kept illegally as pets have been confiscated in Pakistan's Punjab region, authorities said on Monday as they launched a crackdown after one escaped from a house and attacked a woman and two children.

The woman suffered scratches and bruises, and the two children, aged five and seven, were hospitalised after the attack last week but their injuries were not life-threatening, provincial wildlife officials said.

The lion, which was kept without a licence in a house in Lahore, was confiscated and sent to a local safari park, said Mubeen Elahi, director general of the provincial Wildlife and Parks Department. The owner was later arrested, police said.

Keeping exotic animals as pets has been fuelled by social media, with owners often showing off their animals online as status symbols.

“According to the new regulations for keeping big cats, no individual is allowed to keep a lion without a licence, without adhering to the required cage size, and without following other standard operating procedures,” Elahi said.

The punishment is up to seven years in jail.

As well as confiscating the 18 animals, the department raided 38 lion and tiger breeding farms and arrested eight people for violating the rules, he said, adding that all farms will be inspected by the end of this week.

There are 584 lions and tigers in homes and breeding farms in Punjab, Pakistan’s most populous province, he said.

“I know plenty of people who keep big cats as pets,” said Qaim Ali, 30, who himself had a lion but sold it after it attacked his nephew.

“Most of them are not interested in breeding but keep them as a symbol of power and influence in society.”