Orphaned tiger refuses to answer Vladimir Putin's call of the wild

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/may/22/vladimir-putin-tigers-amur-nature-reserve

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Vladimir Putin has never been shy of co-opting wild animals for photo opportunities, and the Russian president was on hand to help release three orphaned tigers into the wild.

Or rather, release two orphaned tigers into the wild. While male tigers Kuzya and Borya took off into the forest of the Amur region nature reserve as soon as Putin pulled a rope to open their cages, their sister, Ilona, refused to leave. Putin banged the cage with a sapling wedged through the links of the chain fence around the enclosure but to no avail.

Russian television trumpeted the president's escapade on Thursday as an "environmental special operation".

Widely renowned for his bare-chested hunting, fishing and horseback riding photo sessions, Putin rarely misses a chance to boost his macho image with a high-octane stunt, having soared through the skies in a fighter jet and descended to the bottom of the sea in a research submarine.

The president was in the Amur region, on the border with China, to look at homes built for victims of last year's flooding. The trip follows his visit to Beijing, where Putin pushed through a $400bn gas supply contract that was years in the making.