Panta Petrovic has been social distancing for more than 20 years – since he moved into a cave in the Serbian mountains to break away from society.

But on one of this rare visits into town, the dreadlocked 70-year-old, with a long beard, discovered there was a pandemic and has had a vaccination.

"It [the virus] does not pick. It will come here, to my cave, too," said the man, who chose to turn his back on living with other people at the start of the century.

"I want to get all three doses, including the extra one. I urge every citizen to get vaccinated, every single one of them," he told AFP in his cave on Stara Planina mountain in southern Serbia.

The cave is accessible only by a steep climb, is equipped with an old rusty bathtub, which he uses as a toilet, some benches and hay for a bed.

Before his lifestyle change, Petrovic worked as a laborer in Pirot, and was married and remarried in a life he called "hectic."

"I was not free in the city. There is always someone in your way – you either argue with your wife, neighbors, or the police," he said.

"Here, nobody is hassling me."

He keeps animals, including several goats, chickens, about 30 dogs and cats and an adult wild boar named Mara.

Petrovic recently moved them to a shack he assembled in the outskirts of the town to be safer from wolves – there are three kittens he bottle-feeds after their mother was killed by wolves.

He also fed Mara when he found her eight years ago as a piglet entangled in bushes – she is now 200kg plays with Petrovic and eats apples from his hand.

"She means everything to me, I love her and she listens to me. There is no money that can buy such a thing. A true pet," Petrovic said.

He receives welfare, but also relies on donations for food and supplies for the animals.

Before moving to his cave, Petrovic had worked abroad for a time, but donated the money for the construction of three small bridges in the town.

On top of one of the bridges, Petrovic built a pigeon loft, which he can still climb to stock them with pieces of bread found in bins.

"Money is cursed, it spoils people. I think nothing can corrupt a human like money," Petrovic said.

Interview for AFP by Miodrag Sovilj