While the rest of the Indians have fled Ukraine amid the ongoing war with Russia, Indian-origin Doctor Girikumar Patil has been living in Severodonetsk, a town in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine. And he is not alone. The reason why he’s put up there with so much risk is his two big pet cats – a black panther and a jaguar.
Patil adopted the animals from the Kyiv zoo about 20 months ago and refused to leave Ukraine without his pets. He risks his life every day and steps out before curfew to visit the market and arrange food for his pets.
The cats are named Yagwar short name Yasha, he is a crossbreed with male Amur leopard and female black jaguar he is the most endangered and dangerous big cat, and a female black panther named Sabrina.
“The situation is still not good. There is daily bombing but still things are better than last month. My pets are afraid when there’s any bombing and they are not at all comfortable. One has to suffer a lot for getting food and necessary things and there is power cut for minimum 2-3 times a day. Recently I bought generator that was high expensive and we still don’t have wifi,” told Patil to Life Beyond Numbers.
Patil claims to be the only Indian in the world to be successfully raising the most endangered and dangerous big cats.
On top of all, to protect his pets, he spent over Rs. 80 Lakh to build a comfortable shelter.
“I am constructing an enclosure with bomb shelter around 200m long. I have spent close to Rs 80 lakh. I didn’t have any option as the zoos didn’t want to keep the big cats. Once the shelter is ready, I will have to wait for a human corridor to open,” Patil told.
Plans to move the animals to India
Of course, his family back in India is worried and asking him to come home.
“My parents have been calling me and asking me to come home, but I can’t leave the animals,” he said.
Having been in war-torn Ukraine for over two months, Patil is now set to come back. He only took the call as local soldiers mistook him for being a criminal and threatened him.
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However, Patil is relieved that he could construct a 200-meter animal enclosure in his backyard with all the required facilities for his pets. He hired a six-member crew, who worked for over a month to build the shelter. For the same, he sold all his properties and car to construct the enclosure.
On reaching India Patil plans on getting back his ‘kids’ at any cost.
“Of course I want to come to India with my pets and I tried lots of ways but they were of no use. I think that only if our honorable Prime Minister Modiji intervenes then only it may be possible otherwise there’s very little chance,” assured the doctor.
About Doctor Girikumar Patil
Born originally in Andhra Pradesh, Patil has been living in Ukraine for many years. He went to Ukraine in 2007 to study medicine and pursued MD Physician degree from the Lugansk State Medical University, Lugansk city, Ukraine which is equivalent to MBBS in India. He also got a Diploma in Orthopaedics From Kyiv, Ukraine. Since then Patil has been a practicing orthopedist in the country since 2014, along with working in a government hospital at Severodonetsk.
This is not the first time Patil is experiencing tension or war. He earlier lived in Luhansk, where Russia-backed troops fought Ukrainian troops in 2014. It took away his restaurant and home. However, he explained that the situation this time is way worse. Expressing his desperation to take his pets back home, he is hopeful that the Indian government will intervene.
Patil dreams to raise endangered big cats like Sumatran Tigers and Amur leopards and Jaguars.
The doc also owns three Italian dogs as his pets. He shares various videos of his life with the cats and that in Ukraine on his unique YouTube channel named Jaguar Kumar to raise funds.
Besides these, Girikumar has also played small parts in some Telugu soaps and Ukrainian films and series. Patil acted in 25-30 serials, telefilms in Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam and Hindi from 1999 to 2006. He also enacted in various Ukrainain films and series from 2013 to 2016 in the country’s biggest film studios and featured in notable films like Krassivaya Dusha (A Beautiful Heart), Lubimoi Korol ( My Loving King), Indissky Teegar (Indian Tiger), and Ohotnik Iz Iraq ( Hunter From Iraq).
Click here to help him save the innocent souls.