Russian couple raising mountain lions as pets

Aleksandr and Maria Dmitriev, a young couple from Penza, Russia, have been sharing a house with a mountain lion for the past three years.

Mountain lions are known to be the top predator in the wild. Photo: Instagram According to Oddity Central (UK), Messi is a 3-year-old leopard, the second largest leopard in the Americas, after the American jaguar. In the wild, it is considered the top predator, but being born in a pet garden, Messi has spent most of his life living as a domestic cat. To the Dmitriev couple, Messi is just a giant cat in their family. Although Dmitriev is well aware of Messi as a predator, at a certain point it will “test” their power to see who has control in the house, but both husband and wife have done. necessary to restrain Messi’s wild nature. Aleksandr and Maria, both psychologists. They love cats, but never thought they would live in a house with a mountain lion. The hairless Sphynx was inherently enough for them. However, in 2018, when they heard that a newborn lion leopard at the local zoo was in need of medical attention, the two decided to adopt it. They believe that in the zoo, the animals will have to live in small stables, leaving visitors to visit and pet them. So they decided to give this “pet cat” a better chance of living. Mario with pet lion Messi Photo: Instagram The young couple knew that if the baby lion was not rescued, it might die, but they also knew that the zoo would not easily hand Messi over to them. So, Aleksandr and Maria decided to pay for Messi and were surprised that the zoo agreed to sell it. The couple brought Messi home to take care of. At the same time, they also have to renovate and adjust around the house to prepare for raising a lion. Most of the time Messi works like a cat. However, its oversized size does have some disadvantages to it. Alekskandr and Maria have repaired the hallway to a residence for Messi, lined the walls with bamboo panels to withstand the lion’s scratches and facilitate replacement. They also erected a large trunk for Messi to climb, adding a small hiding place for it below. But it seems that Messi likes to sit in front of the bathroom window, from here he can see the endless meadow outside the apartment building. Photo: Instagram Mountain lions are raised as pets. Photo: Instagram Aleksandr and Maria quickly realized that they needed to find a way to retain Messi if they wanted to live in harmony with the animal. However, training mountain lions is not something they can do. The couple Dmitriev sent him to the pet training class. The results are impressive as now Messi can hear a simple fate like “sit”, “stay”, “come” and “no”, even take him for a walk. Training was important for Messi, but the Dmitriev couple’s apartment didn’t have a lot of space for it and they couldn’t drop it in the park near their home either. So it was trained to go for walks with the owner. The locals also no longer feel too scared if they see a man walking a large mountain lion. The life of the couple and lion Messi is still going smoothly so far. However, they both admit that living with a lion can be challenging as well. They cannot go on vacation or hang out with friends. They also could not find someone to look after the lion. The cost of raw meat to feed Messi is also up to 600 USD (13.8 million VND) / month. Photo: Instagram Dmitriev and his wife live in harmony with the lion. Photo: Instagram Aleksandr and Maria have set a goal to make a lot of money to move to a more spacious apartment, giving Messi some private space. If they achieve this goal, they plan to raise another big cat, possibly a cheetah for Messi to have friends. Through the newly updated photos on their personal page, it seems that they have achieved their aspirations. The couple has moved into a new home and Messi also has a friend who is a leopard. Now that Messi has become a phenomenon on social networks, the family’s Instagram account has 1.5 million followers, while YouTube has 1.8 million. Video: Russian couple raising a mountain lion indoors as pets (Source: Youtube Inside Edition):