A pretty young woman who keeps five raccoons as pets has been dubbed the ‘Mother of Raccoons’ by local residents.

Victoria Belova, 23, from Khabarovsk in far eastern Russia owns five raccoons and cares for them “like children”.

Victoria has been living with her pets for seven years. She brought her raccoon Hati from Chelyabinsk and Raketa (Rocket) from Anapa. She also decided to keep their baby son and named him Rick. She then took the raccoon Vasya from another family when he was no longer wanted. The raccoon Juliet was raised by Victoria after she took her from a petting zoo when it was closed down.

Victoria keeps the raccoons inside her house. She is now doing house repairs especially for her pets with the help of her boyfriend Alexander.

Victoria told Clipzilla that she has always considered raccoons very funny and kind animals, adding: “I was planning to buy a raccoon, but did not think that I would have a lot of them.”

She allows them to play with other animals and sometimes walks them outside. “They play with each other and with their cat and dog friends, they are very fond of cats and dogs.”

“We often walk, mostly with Rocket, he is the kindest.”

She feeds her pets meat, vegetables, fruits, special food, and insects.

She also understands that not a lot of people can cope with this type of pet. “The raccoon is a very difficult animal to keep. They bite and can disassemble the house quickly. For example, once they took off my wallpaper and ate linoleum, and they also teach other animals to steal.

Victoria explained that in Russia any person can keep a raccoon in their home. That is why they often get thrown away or are abandoned.

She said: “I’m ready to save literally every raccoon.”

Victoria has already started helping raccoons in her town by finding them homes and giving advice to their owners.

She added:”I want people to be more responsible for all animals.”