Putin Talks Tigers with Naomi Campbell

In November 2010, the world’s first tiger summit in St Petersburg ended with £330m pledged to make the great cat worth more alive than dead. The summit was attended by Vladimir Putin, Wen Jiabao, Leonardo DiCaprio, World Bank chief Robert Zoellick, and supermodel Naomi Campbell. During the summit, Naomi spoke with the Russian prime minister for GQ magazine.

GQ (Naomi Campbell)

Naomi Campbell: Now, Vladimir, you’re regarded as a tough leader, so why has the Russian prime minister decided to take part in the Global Tiger Initiative?

Vladimir Putin: It’s simple. I once saw a TV programme about Russian and US activists in the Far East with people engaged with tiger preservation. I was impressed by what I saw, so I decided to take a closer look, and started reading about the show and talking to experts. I decided support needed to be given to these activists, so I pulled together a programme, sponsored by extra funds. The total allocation was $5m and then we started expanding the programme, which now includes black bears, white bears and other species.

I was hoping to see a tiger on stage today. Actually, I’m hoping to see a white bear as I’ve lived in Russia for two years. I know you’ve come face to face with a tiger in the wild – how does that feel?

It felt good for me, but not all of my Russian colleagues felt the same way. When I came to the reserve, a tiger was caught in a special trap, which was designed especially not to hurt the animal but to enable them to study it. The reporters from the Russian station Channel One were there to broadcast the story and were sitting opposite the tiger in the trap. But the tiger was smart, and as soon as the cameras started rolling, he stuck his paw through the trap. You could say the reporters were afraid. We later managed to trap the tiger, so we put it to sleep with a tranquiliser and the scientists managed to do what they had to do, took a sample of blood and even put a special collar on to track it. It turned out it was a female tiger and blood sample analysis showed that she was pregnant. Shortly after that, we got pictures from video cameras that were hidden in the woods, which showed the same female tiger with two cubs. So I had the very best impressions of tigers in the wild.

The summit is a high-level event, but how difficult was it to get so many leaders to St Petersburg?

Not at all, and practically everyone responded immediately. We gathered previously as a limited group and the conversation became very relaxed and casual very quickly. There was an atmosphere of trust and all colleagues spoke very sincerely about the need to preserve nature and preserve tigers. It is our hope that measures discussed today will truly be implemented.

As a result of the summit, participants agreed on a strategy to help save the tiger and take all necessary measures to make it happen. Do you think this will bring an increase in the number of tigers, will there be less poaching, and instead of having just 3,200 tigers in the world, will we soon have more?

I’m sure we’ll succeed. I see that my colleagues from other countries are determined to resolve this issue. Moreover, certain major steps are already being taken by Indian colleagues and other countries to help. In Bangladesh, for instance, they are doing work that is proving to be very interesting for us. It’s the first time we heard about their initiatives and we will certainly take advantage of their positive experience.

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For more information on the Global Tiger Initiative visit globaltigerinitiative.org >>