story of a pet Puma in Poland !

Sure you know Puma brand,   a German multinational corporation that designs and manufactures athletic and casual footwear, apparel and accessories.    The company was founded in 1948 by Rudolf Dassler. 

In 1924, Rudolf and his brother Adolf Dassler had jointly formed the company Gebrüder Dassler Schuhfabrik (Dassler Brothers Shoe Factory). The relationship between the two brothers deteriorated until the two agreed to split in 1948, forming two separate entities, Adidas and Puma. Both companies are currently based in Herzogenaurach, Bavaria, Germany.

Following the split from his brother, Rudolf originally registered the newly established company as Ruda (derived from Rudolf Dassler, as Adidas was based on Adi Dassler), but later changed the name to Puma. Puma's earliest logo consisted of a square and beast jumping through a D, which was registered, along with the company's name, in 1948. Puma's shoe and clothing designs feature the Puma logo.  Puma is a genus in the family Felidae that contains the cougar, also known as the puma and mountain lion, among other names.

After Brexit, there have been some talks on whether there would be a Polexit ? Ever since winning the general election of Poland in 2015, the Polish government led by the Law and Justice Party (PiS), has continuously pushed the country to adopt a series of judicial reforms supposedly to drive out the last strands of communism from the judicial set-up. Poland, which is also an integral member of the European Union, has been confronted time and again by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for its questionable approach towards the judiciary and upholding the intrinsic values of rule of law. Latest of which came on 8th April, when the ECJ stayed the functioning of a chamber designed to scrutinize and punish the judges of the Polish Supreme Court, deepening the legal tussle between the two bodies.

Poland's incumbent President Andrzej Duda has narrowly beaten challenger Rafal Trzaskowski in Sunday's presidential vote. The National Electoral Commission said Mr Duda had won 51.2% of the votes. It is Poland's slimmest presidential election victory since the end of communism in 1989. One of the major issues of the election was the future of the country's strained relations with the European Union. Mr Duda is a social conservative allied with the government led by the nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) party, while Mr Trzaskowski is the socially liberal mayor of Warsaw. Mr Duda's win is expected to lead to further controversial reforms to the judiciary and continued opposition to abortion and gay rights. During the campaign Mr Duda came under heavy criticism after he said LGBT rights were an "ideology" more destructive than communism.

Andrzej Sebastian Duda born in 1972, is a Polish lawyer and politician who has served as President of Poland since 6 Aug 2015. Before becoming president, Andrzej Duda was a member of Polish Lower House (Sejm) from 2011 to 2014 and the European Parliament from 2014 to 2015. In February 2018, Duda said that he would sign into law Amendment to the Act on the Institute of National Remembrance, making it illegal to accuse 'the Polish nation' of complicity in the Holocaust and other Nazi German atrocities, a measure that has roiled relations with Israel with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu going as far as accusing the Polish government of "Holocaust denial".

The  Zoo in Poznań is one of the oldest zoological gardens in Poland, located in the city of Poznań, Greater Poland Voivodeship. It was founded in 1874 and was included on the register of objects of cultural heritage in 1978 as a unique example of a vivarium. The zoo started as a few animals kept by a restaurant owner in the early 1870s.  The zoo traces its origins to 1871, when a group of local bowlers and regulars of a restaurant at Starogard-Poznań railway station in Jeżyce decided to give President of Bowling Association an unusual birthday present. Each of the bowling players brought a different animal including a pig, a goat, a sheep, a cat, a rabbit, a squirrel, a goose, a duck, a chicken, a peacock as well as a trained bear and a monkey. This small menagerie was gradually expanded thanks to animals given by local inhabitants of Poznań and eventually became the foundation of the future zoo. In 1874, the joint stock company called "The Zoological Garden" was formally established.

In an interesting report MailOnline states that hundreds of police have been on the hunt for  Afghan war veteran and his pet PUMA after 'he pulled knife on zoo keepers' and fled to the forest to avoid handing over the big cat in Poland.  

Around 200 Polish police are hunting for an Afghan war veteran and his pet puma after he fled into the forest to avoid handing over the big cat. Kamil Stanek, an Afghan war veteran  is alleged to have threatened Poznan city zoo keepers with a knife when they turned up at his house in the southern town of Myslowice. Poznan Zoo, which is around 200 miles away from the forest where Stanek has fled to, allege that the war veteran has been taking the puma around the country and charging £600 for people who want to pet her.  'It's not a cuddly toy. It's one of the most dangerous animals in the world and it could be a real threat to people's lives,' said Ewa Zgrabczynska, head of Poznan Zoo.  The zoo alleges that when they went to Stanek's house they discovered the puma was living in a cramped, filthy cage.

It is claimed that Stanek - who was ordered to hand over the Puma to Poznan Zoo in January - has effectively been on the run with Nubia (name of the Puma)  since then.  Stanek bought Nubia six years ago in the Czech Republic but keeping pumas is against the law in Poland. Stanek, who purportedly runs an animal sanctuary with his wife and has tens of thousands of social media followers on his Projekt Puma Facebook page, posted an update for his fans yesterday. In the post Stanek filmed himself stroking the big cat and wrote as the caption: 'Thank you for your messages and support. Let the media see what an army we have.'

Strange are the ways of people !

With regards – S. Sampathkumar

13.7.2020.