Mysuru zoo to host pet animals of Ukraine doctor from TS

Mysuru zoo to host pet animals of Ukraine doctor from TS
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Highlights

Sri Chamarajendra Zoolocal Gardens has come forward to host pet animals owned by an Indian origin doctor in Ukraine.

Mysuru: Sri Chamarajendra Zoolocal Gardens has come forward to host pet animals owned by an Indian origin doctor in Ukraine. Dr Giri Kumar Patil, a native of Tankara in Mehbubnagar district in Telangana, has been working as a doctor in Ukraine since 2007. A wildlife lover, Patil has raised a jaguar, a black panther and three Italian Mastiff

dogs in his two-storey building in Ukraine. Despite Russian attack he did not leave his house to take care of the animals. The Russian soldiers captured him and released after seeing his Indian passport with a warning. Now he wants to come back to his native place along with his pets.

He approached the Telangana government with a request for allotment of 50 acres of land for the animals. The State government turned down his request as rearing wild animals is not permitted in the country according to the wildlife Act. However, the Telangana government asked him to make arrangements to leave his favourite animals in any zoo.

At this stage, the Mysuru zoo authorities agreed to take care of the pet animals. Karnataka Zoo Authority member secretary B P Ravi said that the Mysuru zoo has facility, good climate, caretakers and veterinary doctors. "If the government permits we will take care of the animals," he said.

Spread over 157 acres, the Mysuru zoo is the oldest in Asia and it houses 1,450 animals from 25 countries. Everyday thousands of tourists visit the zoo for its rare collection of animals. At present it has one jaguar. "Now, the issue is pending before the Union government. The Mysuru zoo is waiting to host the new Ukrainian guests."

Dr Girikumar Patil is living in a bunker below his home in Severodonetsk, in the Donbas region.

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 "orphaned an ill" 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. The BBC reported that after the war began, Mr Patil has been stepping out of his basement only to buy food for his cats.

"My big cats have been spending nights in the basement with me. There has been a lot of bombing happening around us. The cats are scared. They are eating less. I can't leave them," the 40-year-old told the BBC. Dr Patil also has three dogs - Italian mastiffs - and tries to raise funds for them through his YouTube channel, which has more than 84,000 subscribers.

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