The owner of the raccoon café in Yekaterinburg explained why the animals were eating straight from the floor.

      Raccoons, whose poor living conditions nearly led to a temporary ban on the operation of the raccoon café, are not domestic pets. They live by their own "wild" rules. This was shared by the owner of "Forest Brotherhood," Tatyana Artemyeva, with "KP-Ekaterinburg."

      As the owner of the raccoon café explained to "KP-Ekaterinburg," her furry charges are "not kitties and not doggies." In the wild, raccoons do not eat from bowls.

      — "They snatch them from hands, scatter them on the floor, and eat with their paws, all at once as a crowd," Tatyana said.

      She acknowledged that at the time of the inspection by specialists from the Rosselkhoznadzor, the place had an odor. "But these are animals, they are alive," the owner says.

      "Forest Brotherhood" is largely a shelter for abandoned raccoons. About 10 years ago, a trend for these animals emerged. Then, realizing that these predators cause a lot of trouble, owners began to get rid of them, leaving them on the roadside in the forests. Raccoons from all over the country live in "Forest Brotherhood." To feed the animals, the new owner came up with the idea of a raccoon café.

      — "We haven't opened after the move and planned to do renovations. We haven't unpacked anything yet, things are piled up, we are accepting individual visitors to have money for building materials and animal feed," Tatyana Artemyeva explained to "KP-Ekaterinburg."

      However, the Rosselkhoznadzor Administration told "Channel 4" that last year they notified the owners of "Forest Brotherhood" about the need to obtain a license. However, during their attempts to conduct an inspection, the raccoon café was moving to a new address.

      — "We come, and they are already gone. This time we were lucky," noted Anna Zhelnina, the chief state inspector of the Ural Interregional Rosselkhoznadzor Administration, in a conversation with "Channel 4."

      The organization issued a directive to eliminate violations. Otherwise, the materials will be sent to court to suspend the operation of the raccoon café. Specialists fear that in the conditions they found in the premises, the animals could simply perish.