Russia's Putin saves TV crew from Siberian tiger

[Oriin]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080831/wl_nm/russia_putin_tiger_dc_1

MOSCOW (Reuters) - 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.
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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 the beast and sedated it with a tranquilizer 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 1,000 lb and measure around ten feet 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.
Putin thanked Western researchers for being involved in programs to save the Amur tigers.
"First of all, we must thank our colleagues, Americans, European colleagues for being involved with this during a difficult time for Russia when no-one was paying any attention to this," Putin said.
Putin last year made it into glossy magazines across the world by donning combat trousers and baring his muscular torso for photographers while on a fishing trip in the Yenisei river.
Sensitive to a growing environmental movement in Russia, Putin as president redrew a planned oil pipeline route to avoid Lake Baikal and scrapped plans for an Olympic village near Sochi that could have damaged local flora and fauna.
(editing by Sami Aboudi)

That is so bad ass

http://meignorant.com/putin_kisses_tiger

 

[samurai black]

I don't think our Commander In Chief could do that.

 

[WhatA.Tool]

propaganda t:

 

[Superman4ever]

I don't think our Commander In Chief could do that.

According to former President Vicente Fox, of Mexico, Bush is scared of horses.

 

[04nbod]

meh, its nothing if he didn't wrestle it. Sure he's good with a gun but we all knew that!

 

[Oriin]

I don't think our Commander In Chief could do that.

Russia gets a Superhuman ex-spy and we get a man who almost choked to death on a pretzel.

 

[JayCaz]

Putin will be the man the US turn to when President Obama goes Dr. Evil on yo asses!

 

[Knightsaber Priss]

I always equate the WWF with wrestling still.

 

[Darthphere]

I thought he would just poison it like he does everyone else.

 

[Leto Atrides]

The man is a James Bond villain, there's no way around it. It's only a matter of time before his laser satellite is found.

 

[November Rain]

propaganda t:

yeah, sounds like it to me too...

no one can actually prove any of this...

sounds like he just took part in their tagging trip.

 

[[A]]

The man is a James Bond villain, there's no way around it. It's only a matter of time before his laser satellite is found.

Putin will be the man the US turn to when President Obama goes Dr. Evil on yo asses!

Loved these replies t:

 

[Leto Atrides]

yeah, sounds like it to me too...

no one can actually prove any of this...

sounds like he just took part in their tagging trip.

Yep, pretty much. I'm sure he's always eager to shoot things, though, so who knows.

 

[Metamorpho1977]

Puny Tiger no match for the might of the Russian bear!!!