Putin saves TV crew from tiger
2008-09-01 08:02
Moscow - Prime Minister Vladimir Putin was
feted by Russian media on Sunday for saving a television crew
from an attack by a Siberian tiger in the wilds of the Far East.
Putin, taking a break from lambasting the West over Georgia,
apparently saved the crew while on a trip to a national park to
see how researchers monitor the tigers in the wild.
Just as Putin was arriving with a group of wildlife
specialists to see a trapped Amur tiger, it escaped and ran
towards a nearby camera crew, the country's main television
station said.
Putin quickly shot and sedated the animal with a tranquiliser gun.
"Vladimir Putin not only managed to see the giant predator
up close, but also saved our television crew too," a presenter on Rossiya television said at the start of the main evening news.
The 55-year-old former KGB spy, who cultivated a macho image
during his eight years as the Kremlin chief, was shown striding
through the taiga in camouflage and desert boots before
grappling with the feline foe.
He helped measure the Amur tiger's incisors before placing a
satellite transmitter around the neck of the beast, which can
weigh up to 450kg and measure about three
metres from nose to the tip of the tail.
The Amur tiger, the world's biggest wild cat, has recently
pounced back from the brink of extinction to hit its highest
population level for at least 100 years, the WWF said last year.
- Reuters