Over the last few days there have been several stories of Indian students from war-hit Ukraine lovingly bringing back their dogs and cats with them. However, this doctor – originally from Andhra Pradesh – has decided to stay back in the bunker of his house in Ukraine as he does not want to leave behind his two pets – a leopard and a black panther.
Dr Kumar Bandi is a native of Tanuku town in West Godavari district of Andha Pradesh. He lives in Donbas, a place around 850 km from the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, and has been helping scores of Telugu students and others to reach the nearest border safely for evacuation to India, a Times of India report said.
Since Russia’s attacks started, Kumar, also an Youtuber, has been uploading videos along with his big cats, and taking a stroll with them. “I do not want to leave Ukraine as my pet jaguars will have none to look after them,” he said.
Kumar, explaining his vlogs about his interest in conserving wildlife, said, “I can escape the bombing by fleeing to a neighboring country or returning to India. But I do not want my pet big cats to starve to death in my absence.”
Around 15 years after Kumar left for Ukraine to study medicine, he is now a medical practitioner settled in Donbas. A pet lover since childhood, Kumar took the big cats as pets after getting inspired from a Telugu movie in which the protagonist had a cheetah as pet. He himself has acted in four Telugu movies, which haven’t been released yet, made a few guest appearances in Tamil, Telugu, and Malayalam TV serials, and a couple of Ukrainian movies.
Kumar claims that the particular species of jaguar is the rarest in the world and there are only 21 such animals. He bought ‘Yagwar’, his pet jaguar, around 19 months back and subsequently got another black panther for both to mate.
Although his friends and family back home suggested him to leave the country to be safe, Kumar said that his pets are like his family members and he will not desert them. “If I abandon them, they will definitely die, and I can’t bear that, I will look after them till my last breath and if I die, I’ll die along with them,” he said in his blog.
Kumar also mentioned in his vlogs that he has been helping Indian students to reach the borders and asked anyone who needs help to reach out to him. his brother Ram Bandi has arranged four buses for people who wish to reach Ukrainian borders. Kumar also recently interacted with the Andhra Pradesh state opposition leader Chandrababu Naidu over a zoom call.
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