According to the ‘Petersburg Diary‘ ( «Петербургский дневник») online residents of a residential complex located along one of the cities avenues, noticed a lion cub on the street, who was frozen (-5C°) and placed himself  sunder a car to keep warm. It turned out that the animal belongs to a man living in a house near the place where the little inhabitant of savanna was found by shocked pedestrians.

The owner of the lion cub said that sometimes he walks with the lion cub, but sometimes he releases him into streets alone, he plans to sell the cub in the nearest future, because he is “growing very fast”. The owner was not punished for cruelty, and the animal was returned to him as if nothing wrong happened.

Although Russia signed to CITES the black market of wild animals flourishes. Lion cubs are in high demand for photo shooting at parties, and events. There are companies renting lion or tiger cubs for an evening for a photo session for weddings, or fashion presentation.

However they grow quickly, and owners are willing to get rid of them, selling to private zoos, where the stay in misery locked in cages until the end of their days. Some of them are sold to circuses to be trained by electroshock collar to jump through the fire ring. The Stone age entertainment, subsidized by the Ministry of Culture.