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| Rasa Veliute with her lion |
(Scroll down for video) A woman told local news reporters that she now shares her small apartment with 3 lions because their mother at the local zoo abandoned them, according to press reports in Lithuania.
The Lithuanian woman said that she has been raising the three cougars in her three-room apartment after fearing for their lives at the local zoo.
Rasa Veliute, a 23-year-old volunteer at the zoo in Klaipeda, a port city of the Baltic Sea, said she took the puppies home four months ago after their mother began to neglect them.
The cougars, also known as mountain lions and pumas, are named Kipsas, Gipse and Kinde. Veliute said they eat a lot of chicken and get along well with her Eastern European dog.
There is no law prohibiting Lithuanians from keeping animals at home, and the zoo did not oppose Veliute’s actions, but Veliute told reporters Friday that the cougars have grown rapidly and that she is likely to return them to the zoo by this summer.
“It is very nice to see that this young woman is dedicating her life like this to raise these poor animals. However, keeping lions at home is extremely dangerous. They are known to be wild animals and this woman should reconsider her decision for her own safety,” Emily Mcallister, 41, of Allentown, Pennsylvania told YourJewishNews.com after learning about these animals.Mobile video not loading? Click here to view