Police have arrested a Chinese woman for illegally keeping a lion cub in a hotel room in Phuket.

She was detained following complaints she was displaying the lion every day at her coffee shop. 

Officers from the Natural Resources and Environmental Crime Division (NRECD) accompanied local police and wildlife officials to inspect the coffee shop in Muang district of Phuket on Tuesday, but did not see the young lion.

They were told the owner kept the lion at a hotel in Muang district, and took it to the coffee shop for 2-3 hours each day. They went to the hotel, where they found a Chinese woman and her 2-month-old female cub, which she called Nong Kiwi, Pol Col Arun Vachirasrisukanya, deputy commander of the NRECD, said on Wednesday.

The woman was taken into custody because the animal was being kept in an area that did not meet regulatory requirements and was unsuitable for the granting of a permit to raise the lion.

Investigators were told she had purchased the cub from a Bangkok company on Jan 9 for 250,000 baht. However, she had no ownership transfer documents from the firm, Pol Col Arun said.

The owner presented a document giving the number of a microchip said to be implanted in the animal. However, a check determined the lion was not microchipped.

She was charged with failing to notify authorities she possessed the animal, and illegally moving the animal, in violation of the Wildlife Conservation and Protection Act. She was being held in custody at Muang police station for legal action.

Nong Kiwi would be given into the care of an appropriate agency, Pol Col Arun said.

Police did not release the woman's name and have blurred her face in photos they supplied.