Komsomolskaya Pravda: “Рutin releases Iranian beauty from cage”
Leopards to be back in mountains before Sochi Olympic Games
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin released first two leopards from their cage into an enclosure last September, thereby launching a programme to restore the now diminished leopard population that once roamed the mountains of Sochi.
Putin first tried to lure the roaring, spotted leopards from the cage with a bit of sweet talk. But they refused to budge, probably fearing the uncertainty. The prime minister then stared right into one of the leopard's eyes, and he jumped out of the cage.
"How did you get him to come out?" I asked Putin.
"We found a common tongue," the prime minister replied enigmatically.
Putin named the males. He called one "Alous" after the mountain in Sochi where the last living leopard was seen in the wild, and the other "General" after the Turkmen gorge where the leopards were caught.
Putin rang the Turkmen president on his mobile right from the cage.
"Thank you for the wonderful beasts," he said.
However, as magnificent as they are, the males can't restore the leopard population on their own. They need mates – preferably pregnant ones – Sochi scientists said. And so, two female leopards were sent in from Iran. They don't look pregnant yet, so all the hope is pinned on the Turkmen males.
The females have yet to be named. Putin released one from her cage yesterday. (The other is indisposed and in quarantine.) She tried to bite back at first, and didn't want to leave her cage just like her Turkmen kin.
"Come on, don't growl," the prime minister coaxed. And, lo and behold, the spotted beauty, elegantly wagging her tail, jumped out into the enclosure. Dashing about, her eyes shined, intoxicated by the sense of freedom.
The females won't be introduced to the males just yet. They will have to adapt to the environment first, and remain content with observing them at a distance. Otherwise, fighting could ensure. Leopards are proud predators, and don't start breeding immediately like rabbits.
And so it seems, leopards will roam the mountains of Krasnaya Polyana at large by the 2014 Sochi Olympic Games. Sochi locals already joke that the downhill skiers will set new records for speed if they see the leopards sneaking up surreptitiously behind them.
Larisa Kaftan
