Putin saves journalists from tiger: report

[WriteDown]

Source: AFP

MOSCOW (AFP) – You've seen Vladimir Putin the bomber pilot, judo expert and fisherman -- but tiger tamer?

Russian media, known for hero-worshipping the prime minister and former president, reported Monday that Putin fired a tranquilizer dart at a tiger that got loose Sunday during a photo-op at a wildlife sanctuary.

According to Interfax news agency, a camera crew from state TV channel Vesti realised the five-year-old tiger had become untied, whereupon Putin leapt into action.

"Thanks to the agile and timely action the tiger was immobilised," Interfax said....

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/story//afp/20080901/od_afp/russiapoliticsputinwildlifetigeroffbeat_080901105026

---

He's the most interesting man in the world!!!!

[tanyev]

1. I think Sarah would turn into a giggly, gushing school girl if she ever had to face him.

[WriteDown]

3. I think they should have made it....

where he wrestled the tiger into submission with his bare hands.

[rosesaylavee]

15. All she would have to do is look deep into his baby blues

and declare him her soulmate.

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

2. Did he also use the kung fu grip on the tiger? n/t

[slackmaster]

4. No, that was Kim Jong Il

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

44. LOL! If there has ever been a cartoon villian out there.......n/t

[notadmblnd]

5. And he always carries his tranquilizing dart gun with him?

I'm surprised they didn't say he wrasteled him bare handed in a loin cloth.

[WriteDown]

6. Hey!!!

That was my suggestion! :)

[WriteDown]

7. One other thing....

Was this a Georgian tiger?

[hedgehog]

8. George is going to be soooooo jealous!

[man4allcats]

10. Well, let's just hope Georgie, in his envy,

will attempt a little one-upmanship except this time the tiger wins. I'd love it. The little bastard gets taken out by a tiger. Talk about divine intervention!

[Lorien]

9. .....

:spray:

Just begging for a photoshop:

[Igel]

11. Most interesting man? Perhaps you should offer to have his baby.

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.

[WriteDown]

12. I was being facetious.

I was remarking on the cult of personality he is concocting.

[go west young man]

13. Could of been worse.

Could of shot his friend in the face with the tranquilizing gun.

[Duke Newcombe]

14. Another Putin screwup: saving a journalist. n/t

Duke

[samsingh]

16. i've lost more respect for Putin for this. killing a Tiger is useless

and evil.

[dysfunctional press]

21. when did he kill a tiger? was it after 'he' tranquilized the one in the story?

:shrug:

[samsingh]

22. whoops, my bad. i thought he had hunted it. i was totally wrong.

i'm trying to edit my original post.

[samsingh]

24. whoops. i'm being unfair to Putin. i didn't read the tranquilizer dart was used

thought it was a hunting expedition.

[Pathwalker]

17. "Tanquilizer dart. Immobilezed" From the article itself.

The tiger wasn't killed.

[samsingh]

25. thank you for the clarification. my bad

[DavidDvorkin]

18. And then he ran to the coast and held back the sea!

Next week, he plans to realign the Ural Mountains!

[WriteDown]

19. If he's going to keep doing this type of stuff...

He really needs to start wearing a cape.

[DavidDvorkin]

23. Good idea! With a big, red P on it

Which is to say, pi.

[crickets]

37. No!

No capes! /Edna Mode ;)

[Uncle Joe]

20. That's nothing, Deadeye Dick saved some quail once by shooting a rampaging attorney in the face. n/t

[LynnTheDem]

40. rotflmao!!!

:rofl:

[bemildred]

26. Right.

This is almost as good as Shrub's aircraft carrier dog-and-pony show.
:rofl::rofl:

[Regret My New Name]

27. lol... awesome...

Even if it BS, I find this amusing.

[Tess49]

28. I first read this as Palin saves journalist from tiger. Clearly I need

a break.

[Regret My New Name]

30. Oh but she did too... It was right after her water broke....

[Redstone]

29. Jesus, theres no more USSR, but the Russian govermnent hasn't changed a bit,

has it? Next they'll have him delivering a baby in the backseat of a taxi, while on his way to perform emergency heart surgery.

Redstone

[WriteDown]

31. One thing I'll give Cheney and Bush...

At least we hear about their many mishaps and get to laugh about them. Shots to the face, bicycle accidents, pretzels, etc. The Russian leaders are portrayed as perfect and of course STRONG.

[Hannah Bell]

33. unlike bush in his flight suit on the cargo carrier. we didn't start

hearing about bush/cheney mishaps from the msm until years into the bush presidency, & only when the collossal failure/deceit of the iraq policy was too obvious to ignore.

who cares whether putin has a pr service?

[WriteDown]

35. Huh?

Bush in a flight suit doesn't quite compare to Super Putin taking out a tiger by himself. Has a Paul Bunyan quality to it.

[yourfilm]

32. Putin reportedly saves TV crew from tiger- Video

http://yourfilmproject.com/video3.html

Breaking News

[Redstone]

34. Slowest fucking tiger ever, eh? He had time to have that guy show him how to use

the rifle, sight in the shot with the scope, and everything!

I guess all the journalists were in wheelchairs, to be in danger from THAT tiger!

Redstone

[npk]

36. If it had been Cheeney in that situation

He would have shot the journalist.

[fujiyama]

38. Figuring Putin

I would have thought he'd FEED the journalist to the tiger!

[mikehiggins]

39. I have no doubt this guy is quite capable of doing this stunt

As to the "slow tiger" referred to below it is quite likely the beast was already tranked to a degree to make sure P wasn't in any danger. Figuring out how to use an "exotic" weapon like a trank gun would be second nature to a man whose history lies with the KGB.

Putin is a dangerous man and far different from the bozo who sits in the White House. He knows history and he knows how to acquire and amass personal power.

And he tends to be quite quiet about it at the same time.

The odd thing about this story is that it was widely distributed. Go figure.

[reorg]

41. That stunt is actually pretty funny

What to do when a dangerous predator sneaks around the borders? Don't talk about paper tigers. Don't threaten him and make him frightened. Don't engage in shouting matches, don't fight him to the death. This is what you do: wait for the right moment to put him to sleep with a stun gun, then you'll have time to carefully examine his bared teeth. Let him recover while you stay out of harm's way. Maybe there will be a place in a nature reserve for him. As long as we can keep him away from civilized places, we have nothing to fear. :-)

[redqueen]

42. Doesn't this strike anyone else as tabloid-type stuff more suited to GD than LBN?

[WriteDown]

43. How dare you question the importance...

of Super Putin. Two tranqs for you :).