In Germany, a building’s landlady found an unusual-looking cat in one of her tenant’s apartments. Following her intuition, she alerted the animal services, who made an appalling discovery: Tikam the cat was, in reality, a puma.
 Hence, the Puma cub was rescued from the apartment’s bathroom. Unfortunately, the poor animal was a victim of illegal wildlife smuggling.
The cat unlike any other.
Until 2019, little Tikam lived in a small apartment with his owner in the German region of Baden-Württemberg. The feline spent most of his days holed up in the apartment’s bathroom, where he had a scratching post, several balls, a bed, and a litter box.
If Tikam were a house cat, this arrangement wouldn’t be a terrible situation, but Tikam was a puma. Therefore, he was better suited for another lifestyle.
Luckily, the owner of the building recognized one day that Tikam was a little off. After much deliberation, she finally got in touch with the authorities.
The animal services came to the building and determined that Tikam was, in fact, a puma.
How did Tikam end up in the apartment?
The illegal wildlife trade is more significant than one might initially believe. Many animals are torn away from their mothers and habitats yearly to be transported worldwide and sold to private parties.
Unfortunately, once these wild animals reach adulthood, they are far too large, dangerous, and cumbersome for their families. Consequently, they are then abandoned to their luckless fate.
They cannot survive independently because they have always been deprived of their instincts throughout their lives.
Tikam, for instance, had not quite reached the age of two months when he was sold and taken to Germany. The two-month-old exotic pet had been lawfully purchased in the Czech Republic but had been illegally brought into Germany.
According to Four Paws, the puma was purchased from a Czech breeder for 2,300 euros and carried to Germany by automobile, despite the lack of husbandry permission and import and export documentation between the Czech Republic and Germany.
The seller also swapped vaccination and proof of origin.
A new life for the cub
After being taken into custody by law enforcement, Tikam was taken to Tierart, a sanctuary in western Germany operated by Four Paws for animals like him. Tikam is making the most of every second of his new life close to nature,
He now lives in a habitat customized to suit his needs, even though he could never be set free into the wild because he would not survive on his own.