Animal lovers were outraged after a video posted by the zoo’s social media page showed women in a glass box and teasing a lion.

Animal City in Lebanon has been criticized for setting up a glass box that allows visitors to crawl inside a lion’s enclosure and pose for photos with the caged animal.

The clip shows the lion desperately trying to get to the people in the glass page and growing increasingly frustrated as it paws at the glass. The glass box is said to be part of a promotion.

“Make your next trip to Animal City even more special with a memorable face-to-face encounter with the lion,” the caption of the post reads.

In the video, the woman can be seen teasing the lion by imitating its obvious frustration before a pal joins her in the enclosure. The two young women then pose for snaps as the frantic lion continues to paw at the glass enclosure.

Animal City in Zikrit, describes itself as Lebanon’s largest shelter and wildlife park, with over 200 species of animals as well as shops, restaurants, and a children’s play area.

But activists claim that animals are being abused at the zoo, which also includes encouraging animals to breed purely so that visitors can pose with their offspring.

Hundreds of pictures are available online showing people posing with exotic animals at the zoo, including bear cubs, monkeys, and lion cubs.

The animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) were particularly unpleased after a video showing two women teasing the lion was shared as part of a promotion.

“Shame on this shoddy park for treating animals as nothing more than living exhibits,” Elisa Allen, UK director of PETA said.

“This gimmicky interaction is clearly agitating the lion, and PETA urges everyone opposed to cruelty to stay well away from this facility and others that rob animals of meaningful lives, condemning them to endure stress and despair for the sake of human entertainment,” she added.

The activists have called for the people to boycott the zoo, but the wildlife park suggested that boycotting would mean the animals will starve.

Elisa then explained that proper treatment can always be provided elsewhere, and by visiting the zoo people were encouraging the animal’s exploitation.

“It’s worth remembering that this shoddy park seems to be breeding yet more animals – creating more hungry mouths to feed – just so that it can continue to imprison them for profit,” Elisa explained.

“But exhibitors can phase out their cruel displays by stopping all breeding programs and working with animal protection bodies to move the animals to reputable sanctuaries where they can have some semblance of the life they’ve been denied,” she added.

Social media users are quick to express their disappointment on how Animal City treats their animals.

“This is bloody awful!” one user said.

“Normalize NOT locking up the wildlife and using them in stressful ways for attractions and influencers,” another has added. “This poor lion is being tortured like a prisoner for profit. These places should be reported for animal abuse.”

“Selling “memorable” face to face abusing poor lions who can do nothing other than claw away at proofed glass, wow thanks,” a third one wrote.