Claws out for Moscow man’s PET PUMA as celebrity neighbor leads charge to evict big cat from apartment over fears for children

It’s an open secret that Russians love cats. So much so that many estimate the country has the most feline companions of anywhere in Europe. But one Moscow man’s furry friend is now causing a furore, and faces being made homeless.

Pop singer and reality TV show contestant Vika Daineko told the Mash news site on Thursday that she was shocked to see her neighbor walking a puma on a leash through the park across from her apartment. While passersby had stopped to marvel at the predator, she says it could pose a big risk to children in the area.

According to the outlet, the owner found himself getting bored alone in his one-room apartment in the south west of the city and did what any big cat lover would do – buy a puma called Hercules. Since then, the two have bonded and he reportedly likes the attention that comes with walking the feline, which has become a local celebrity, in public.

However, Daineko might soon be able to put a paws on the blossoming friendship between the two. She says she has collected dozens of signatures from within the area, and is now taking legal action to ban Hercules from the street or even have him thrown out of the city. The singer, once a teen star on Russian television, hasn’t yet revealed if she’s more of a dog person.

Strangely, this isn’t the first neighborly dispute in Moscow caused by a big cat. In March, residents in Kozno, a suburb outside the capital, posted a surprising video of a full-grown lioness sitting on the roof of a shed next door to their house. However, the irate owner, who runs a rescue sanctuary, insisted that the big cat was just part of the family and posed no risk to anyone. According to her, curtain twitchers had put the clip up online as part of a dispute over animal food trucks blocking the road while making deliveries.

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