Police have detained a suspect in poisoning a leopard at the Moscow Zoo.

Police officers have detained a suspect who tried to poison the leopard Mizera with pills at the Moscow Zoo. This was announced on May 28 by the official representative of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia Irina Volk.

"Employees of the criminal investigation department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia in the Presnensky district of Moscow detained a 43-year-old resident of the capital. He is suspected of an illegal act that was committed on the territory of the Moscow Zoo on Bolshaya Gruzinskaya Street," the Wolf wrote on her Telegram channel.

According to her, the suspect was taken to the police station. The reasons for his actions are being established.

The man said that he threw valerian extract to the animal to "bring it to its senses."

The source of Izvestia reports that the man had previously been repeatedly convicted and is registered in a neuropsychiatric dispensary with a diagnosis of schizophrenia.

On May 27, Svetlana Akulova, general director of the Moscow Zoo, said that an unknown person had tried to poison the Miser leopard with pills on the premises of the institution. According to her, the zoo, together with law enforcement agencies, will conduct an investigation aimed at clarifying the circumstances of the incident.