Four pedigree kittens have been put under arrest over their owner's debts after it turned out that the entrepreneur did not have any other assets, court bailiffs in the Siberian region of Tomsk said Friday.
The furry "'arrestees' are still living at home," the local bailiffs service said in a statement, adding that their owner can exercise her right to sell the Scottish Fold kittens herself in order to pay off her debt.
Each of the pedigree kittens is worth about 3,000 rubles ($84), the statement said. Their owner owes about 20,000 rubles in retirement insurance premiums for her business, and another 20,000 rubles to private creditors, the statement said.
When executing a court ruling, bailiffs seized the woman's bank account, "but there turned out to be no funds in it, and the only asset that could be arrested turned out to be the pure-bred kittens," the statement said.
This is not the first time kittens have been caught up in unpaid debt cases in Russia. One previous case involved a Sphynx cat.
Last week, bailiffs in Siberia said a man had killed and eaten his horse, Orlik, rather than let it be confiscated over his debts.
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