A lion cub found roaming the streets of the Russian city of Ufa has turned out to be a schoolboy's present.

The city's emergency rescue service was contacted after a passerby managed to tie the five-month-old cub to a fence.

The local rescue service said the pet lion, named Shere Khan, was taken to an animal shelter until he could be reunited with his owners.

The father of the second-grade boy, who had been given the cub for his birthday, said the animal escaped after being taken for a vaccination.

"When we arrived [home], we gasped — the lion was not in the car," Flur Mullagayanov told local media.

Shere Khan's owners said the cub had suffered stress from the incident but was now back home.

The cub has a huge territory of 40 hectares to explore and is not alone, as the family also has horses, rabbits and even a peafowl, according to local reports.