A sphynx cat has been seized in Russia`s Kemerovo Region over a 15,000-ruble ($517) debt for housing services, a local bailiffs spokesman said on Monday.

According to the spokesman, the seized property, which includes a TV, a DVD player and a music system, would probably not be auctioned off as its owners, a middle-aged married couple, have begun to repay their debts.

"The couple`s son-in-law has paid 12,000 rubles ($413) out of 15,000 saying that he would pay the rest within days," the spokesman said.

The cat was appraised at 1,000 rubles ($34), although the market price for the breed varies from 5,000 ($172) to 15,000 rubles ($517).

Bailiffs in the Siberian region have also been involved in the seizure of several other unusual items as part of their debt-collections duties, including a gasoline station, a pedigree cat, some patents, a thoroughbred horse and a reinforced concrete fence.

They also took three five-month-old calves from a smallholder who had failed to pay off mounting debts, while a herd of pigs was seized in northwest Russia`s Veliky Novgorod Region over the debts of their owner.
sections: Society