普京打虎救記者 盡顯英雄本色

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin was feted by Russian media on Sunday for saving a television crew from an attack by a Siberian tiger in the wilds of the Far East.

Putin apparently saved the crew while on a trip to a national park to see how researchers monitor the tigers in the wild.

Just as Putin was arriving with a group of wildlife specialists to see a trapped Amur tiger, it escaped and ran towards a nearby camera crew, the country's main television station said. Putin quickly shot the beast and sedated it with a tranquilizer gun.

"Vladimir Putin not only managed to see the giant predatorup close but also saved our television crew too," a presenter on Rossiya television said at the start of the main evening news.

The 55-year-old former KGB spy, who cultivated a macho image during his eight years as the Kremlin chief, was shown striding through the taiga in camouflage and desert boots before grappling with the feline foe.

He helped measure the Amur tiger's incisors before placing a satellite transmitter around the neck of the beast, which can weigh up to 450 kg and measure around three meters from nose to the tip of the tail.

Fewer than 400 Amur tigers - also known as Siberian, Ussuri or Manchurian tigers - are believed to survive in the wild, most of them in Russia and some in China.

Putin thanked Western researchers for being involved in programs to save the Amur tigers. "First of all, we must thank our colleagues, American andEuropean colleagues for being involved with this during a difficult time for Russia when no-one was paying any attention to this," Putin said.

Putin last year made it into glossy magazines across the world by donning combat trousers and baring his muscular torso for photographers while on a fishing trip in the Yenisei river.

上週日，俄羅斯總理普京在俄遠東地區的野生動物保護區（視察工作時）上演了“虎口救人”的驚險一幕，他射倒一隻欲傷人的西伯利亞老虎（譯者注：又稱“東北虎”），成功解救了一位隨行的電視臺工作人員。普京總統的英雄事蹟受到了俄羅斯當地媒體的高度讚譽。

事發當天，普京在一個國家森林公園視察研究人員監控野生老虎的情況。

據俄羅斯電視臺報道，正當普京總理在野生動物專家的陪同下視察一隻被捕獲的阿穆爾河虎時，這隻困獸突然掙脫枷鎖，向近旁的一位隨行攝影記者撲去。就在這時，普京迅速拿起一杆麻醉槍將其射倒。

俄羅斯電視臺的一名主持人在當天的晚間新聞節目開始時報道說：“普京總理不僅與猛虎‘親密接觸’，而且還解救了我們的工作人員。”

普京在此前的八年總統任期內一直以“硬漢”形象示人。從電視畫面中可以看到，事發之前，這位55歲的前克格勃特工身着迷彩服和沙地靴，大步走進一片針葉林。

制服猛虎後，普京還幫助研究人員測量虎牙的長度，並在老虎的頸部安裝了衛星定位追蹤器。這隻老虎身長（從鼻子至尾尖）約3米，重達450公斤。

目前全世界僅存不到400只野生阿穆爾河虎（也稱西伯利亞虎、烏蘇裏虎或東北虎），其中大多數分佈在俄羅斯境內，還有一些分佈在中國。

普京對參與西伯利亞虎保護項目的西方專家表示了感謝。他說：“首先，我們要感謝來自美國和歐洲的同行們，感謝他們在這樣一個西伯利亞虎保護不受重視的困難時期，給予我們支持與幫助。”

去年，普京身着迷彩褲，赤裸着上身在葉尼塞河釣魚的照片登上世界各地很多時尚雜誌，照片中普京完美的肌肉線條顯露無遺。

fete: to pay honor to（給予巨大榮譽）

up close:近距離地