Putin given tigress cub for 56th birthday
Putin, who turned 56 on Tuesday, was shown stroking the two- month-old tigress at a meeting with Russian journalists at his residence outside Moscow yesterday.
He called Russian journalists to his country home without telling them why. Past midnight, after asking them “not to make noise, make a clatter or squeal”, Putin ushered the curious journalists into the room where the tiger cub was waiting.
As president and now prime minister, Putin is known for his tough talk and macho image. But children and animals seem to bring out a softer side.
His dog, a labrador retriever named Koni, is often with him, even during meetings with world leaders. He told journalists that Koni has not yet met the tiger cub.
The prime minister said he was thinking of naming the cub Mashenka or Milashka.
The tigress, who weighs 10kg, is sleeping in a basket at his home and will soon be transferred to a zoo, he said.
Putin would not reveal who gave him the present, while saying it was his most original birthday gift.
Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov, 32, who owes his position as leader of the mainly Muslim southern Russian region to Putin, keeps lions and tigers.
In August, Putin had occasion to pet a full-grown female Ussuri tiger after shooting her with a tranquilizer gun.
He was visiting a wildlife preserve in Russia’s Far East and shot the five-year-old tiger as part of a programme to track the rare cats, also known as the Siberian, Amur or Manchurian tiger.
Once the tiger was asleep, Putin placed a collar with a GPS tracking system around her neck. Television footage showed him patting her cheek like a pet.
There are about 500 of the cats left in the wild, according to the WWF conservation organisation.
The Russian state media often portray Putin in action, showing photos and video of him co-piloting a fighter jet, practising judo and riding and fishing bare-chested in the mountains in Tuva, Siberia.
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