An Indian doctor is stranded in war-torn Ukraine, holed up in a basement with his two pet big cats – a panther and a leopard.
Dr Girikumar Patil is living in a bunker below his home in Severodonetsk, in the Donbas region.
The region is controlled by separatists and the situation is fast deteriorating. But Dr Patil is not ready to leave the animals behind.
“I will never abandon my pets to save my life. Of course, my family is urging me to return. My pets are my children. I’ll stay with them and protect them until my last breath,” he told The New Indian Express.
Dr Patil went to Ukraine in 2007 to study medicine, and later settled down in Donbas. TNIE reported that he later joined a local government hospital as an orthopaedic.
He found the jaguar in a local zoo and with the permission of authorities, adopted it. Dr Patil has named the animal Yasha. Two months ago, he brought the black panther Sabrina as a mate to Yasha.
