Girikumar Patil from Andhra Pradesh has been living in the Donbas region for more than six years now. 

In March, when Indian citizens were being evacuated from war-torn Ukraine, Patil refused to leave and decided to stay back with his two big pet cats a black panther and a jaguar.

Known as Jaguar Kumar, Patil, however, is now desperate to flee the country.  The assistant orthopedic surgeon has sold all his properties and car to build an enclosure for his pets. He has already spend Rs 80 lakh to build the structure.  

Patil told News18 that he plans to appoint a caretaker and return to India once the shelter is ready.  “I am constructing an enclosure with bomb shelter which is around 200m long. I have spent close to Rs 80 lakh. I didn’t have any option as the zoos here didn’t want to keep the big cats. Once the shelter is ready, I will have to wait for a human corridor to open,” said Patil.

So what made Patil decide to come back to India? He decided to head back to his country after local soldiers mistook him for being a criminal and threatened him. 

In March, when the Indian Government wanted to evacuate Patil along with other Indian nationals from Ukraine, he refused to abandon his cats and requested the government to help him relocate his panther and jaguar to India.

The Central Zoo Authority then reached out to various zoos in India to find a possible new home for the felines. 

Also Read: In a bid to free themselves, Belarusians join Ukraine’s war against Russia

Authorities at Mysore Zoo have expressed their willingness to take in the big cats, saying they have the required enclosure and experience.

“Patil has written to the Indian Government, he was given the option of sending his panther and jaguar to any of the zoos in the India. He has selected Mysore Zoo is what we are told. Our member secretary was informed from Delhi. For 25 years, we have had a black panther and jaguars at our zoo. We have a good environment for the animals here. We have a separate enclosure ready for them,” said Mahadevaswamy, chairman, the Zoo Authority of Karnataka.

Also Read: Fate of 2,500 Ukrainian POWs from Mariupol’s Azovstal plant stirs concern

However, relocating the big cats might not be easy task. The region has been targeted by Russian forces from both land and air.