Ever since his engagement announcement, Dwight Howard’s life has been a mainstay on the front page news. In the new year, in order to stay away from them, the former champion traveled with his fiancee over 9,000 miles away from the U.S. The couple, along with the basketball legend’s daughters, Layla and Jayde shared the photos of their vacation from Thailand. And apparently, it is one of those photos that has landed him in hot waters with the fans. But is it his fault?

“Catch a a tiger by the what? 🤣🐅 #tiger #animallovers.” The former Center added a carousel post on Instagram, from a zoo featuring a lion and a tiger. What irked the netizens is the way animals are apparently treated in such zoos as they are sedated so that people visiting could click pictures in close proximity. It was not the only post, Dwight Howard added about the animals from his vacation.

“What’s your spirit animal 🤌🏾?” In that post, the 3x DPOY was seen petting and playing with a lion, tiger, horse, and even snakes.  Yesterday, he even added another post, “Man I can’t WAIT to share my testimony of how Jesus saved us. If God is good to you and 2025 is your year for freedom. Put an amen in the comments.🙏🏾❤️.”

This time he and his fiancee, Amy Luciani were seen hugging an elephant. But why are people upset is because of the constant reports about animal cruelty.

As per The Independent, abuse of tigers for tourist selfies was still “rampant” in 2023. The report also stated that the animal rights campaigner group Lady Freethinker (LFT) found cruelty against “photo-prop” animals in visits to 11 zoos across Thailand. This concern is not new and has been raised for years. And now, the fans are also going against the Lakers legend.

Fans educate Dwight Howard about the issue

Since these spots are favorites for tourists, many of them don’t really know about such problems. But many reports time and again have highlighted them and they want the Thailand government to pass strict laws.

This is what a netizen pointed out and stated it wasn’t Dwight Howard’s fault. “they’re definitely dr-gged I’ve been to Thailand before and was informed after doing the same tour.. but hey . You should complain to the Thailand officials not on his post. It ain’t Dwight’s fault.”

Another pointed out the reason why the animals appear not in their normal shape, “Got to be a tranquilized tiger.” Being a former NBA champion, who has more than 3.6 million followers on his social media, should be more responsible with his post was the call from another fan. “come on mane u better den that supporting animal cruelty is crazy.”

Others also point out how animals are sedated and made to look like props for the tourists to enjoy the photo session. “Feel sorry for they tigers there dr-gged for people to take pictures with should be free.”

And another true fan of the former Lakers star shared his concern. “I live u Dwight but they dr-g em up like crazy to let yall do his.” So, even though Dwight Howard wanted to stay away from his personal controversy, seemed to have landed in another.