Scroll down to see the video of a man taking a leopard on a leash for a walk (Representational Image)
Bizarre CCTV footage shows a man casually taking a leopard on a leash for a walk. The surveillance footage is reportedly from an apartment building in the Russian city of Nizhny Novgorod and captures the man nonchalantly walking with the leopard. According to local media reports, the man's neighbours are upset - and if we may add, understandably so - that the man has a big cat as a "pet." They say it's irresponsible for him to have a wild animal as a pet and keep it locked up indoors, especially as there are many young children that live in the building and play in a playground right outside.
In the footage, the unlikely duo are seen only briefly as the man walks down a flight of stairs with the leopard in tow and exits the building. The entire time, the big cat is surprisingly calm.
Russia Beyond quotes one of the man's neighbours as saying that the man regularly walks his "pet" - no muzzle in sight.
"People are amazed. Despite the fact that many young families with children live in the house, it does not bother the leopard's owner. A leopard, a predatory animal that can attack at any moment and gobble you up, walks around without a muzzle," the unnamed neighbour says.
According to
RT, the paw prints left by the leopard in the playground's sandbox have become a "regular and worrying sight" for the building's residents, who fear the big cat might break free from its owner and maul the children.
However, the man insists there's nothing wrong in treating the leopard as a housecat.
"The animal is completely tame, it doesn't bite, doesn't jump at anybody... It has never happened. There is no danger," the man tells Nizhny Novgorod's Kstati News.
Watch the video below:
While it's unclear whether the man has a permit to keep the leopard at home,
RT reports that the regional veterinary authority says that it had not granted any permit and was previously unaware of the leopard wandering the streets of the city.
The man's worried neighbours are planning to file a police report.Click for more
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