The rescued puma cannot be released into the wild, so he have to live as a spoilt house cat
A Russian couple lives in a small apartment with a large and odd roommate. Aside from its size, the 90-pound puma has a well-known moniker.
Messi is his name, and he is one of soccer’s most famous players. Messi, the puma, was originally observed by Mariya and Aleksandr Dmitriev at the Saransk Zoo in Penza. The lovely cat was just eight months old at the time.
At the zoo, he was one of three cubs born. The other two, Suarez and Neymar, were also named after legendary players to commemorate Moscow’s hosting of four World Cup matches.
Messi was sold to the Saransk Zoo when he was just three months old. He was having health problems while he was there.
The puma has captured Mariya and Aleksandr’s hearts at first sight. As a result, they decided to make an appeal to the zoo in order to purchase him.
Aleksandr, 38, had long dreamed of owning a huge cat, according to his wife Mariya:
“He always thought about having a lynx – never a puma. It’s hard to explain but we believe that having this puma is part of our destiny.”
“We had three days of thinking hard about whether it was moral to keep a puma, and whether it was common sense to have one. But nothing could fight our sudden wish,” Mariya, 28, claimed to the Mirror.
“So we went to the zoo and started negotiations to buy Messi. We were surprised ourselves when they agreed.”
Taking care of Messi, on the other hand, was a major challenge for the Dmitriev family.
The puma required medical attention in addition to being a wild animal. “He was quite weak and demanded a lot of attention,” Mariya explained.
Messi, like any other pet, need a lot of care. He also requires a lot of physical activity.
His human parents bought him a special coat and harness so they could take him for walks.
“He is like a dog. We started taking him for a walk, step by step. The animal hadn’t been really active before ” Aleksandr remarked in an interview with RT.
“Now we walk a lot twice a day, as it’s supposed to be. It doesn’t differ much from owning a dog in this sense.”
It wasn’t simple to find a wild animal handler. However, the pair eventually found a dog training school.
“He convinced us with his behavior that he’s a full member of our family and that he wouldn’t be doing anything bad apart from some small naughty things.”
“He’s very kind and likes contact. He gets on very well with people,” says Aleksandr.
Messi, the puma, is not simply a celebrity among his parents. He also has over 600k Instagram followers and 1780k YouTube subscribers! But, given how adorable he is, this isn’t surprising.
