Reply #11: Most interesting man? Perhaps you should offer to have his baby. [View All]

[Igel]

And, yes, I checked your profile.

Ok, here's a bit more. He was visiting a preserve on the Amur when it slipped its "leash", the neck contraption for holding it while they tag it. The usual way you do this is to trank the cat, tag it, and let it go.

They had it caged for his PR stop, so he could help in the tagging. They were going to tag it, re-cage it, and let it go later, apparently. It was a photo op, pure and simple--cage a wild animal, hold it for a ceremonial tagging by the Big Cahuna, and then let it go later.

For this, a tv crew was on hand. When it slipped it's tether, it made for the tv crew, they say. Putin just happened to have the gun at hand, with a dart in it, and shot the cat under the shoulderblade. It dropped it within a few dozen feet. That's one strong trank gun. And it smells.

Russian vozhdi are always larger than life, however that's defined at the time. It gives the peasants somebody to vicariously live through, they gain honor and prestige through bonding with their masters.

Now, the real reason Poutain was in the area has nothing to do with shooting Amur tigers or looking studly. He was going to or from (I forget which) inspecting oil pipeline and transfer facilities in Vladivostok. He's not one to miss a PR opportunity, though.

Komsomol'skaya Pravda reported the oil connection. The rest of the media highlights the hero worship connection--an incident that was going to silent involve staging, to begin with, with the media complicit in the staging.