Post by Jaga on Oct 12, 2012 16:27:41 GMT -7
MOSCOW — It seemed like a daring plan when President Vladimir V. Putin, outfitted in a billowy white jumpsuit and piloting a motorized hang glider, led a flock of critically endangered Siberian cranes last month on the first leg of a migration flight intended to reintroduce them to life in the wild.
Yet, with winter falling, it became clear on Wednesday that the six cranes could go no farther, and five have already been returned to captivity as passengers on an airplane. The sixth is in private hands and is expected to rejoin the others shortly.
“We have seen the sad news that the cranes could not fly south,” said Mr. Putin’s press secretary, Dmitri S. Peskov, speaking from the president’s official residence on Wednesday, the news agency Interfax reported.
Billed as “The Flight of Hope,” Mr. Putin’s September expedition was part of an ambitious plan to lead the cranes on their first migratory flight to a nature reserve to the south, from where they were to journey eventually to Uzbekistan. The stunt quickly became political fodder, the subject of Photoshop satire and jokes about Mr. Putin’s human followers. This was not the first highly publicized stunt by Mr. Putin to backfire. Last year, he “discovered” ancient Greek amphorae, wine or olive oil jugs, while scuba diving in shallow waters in the Black Sea. It was readily apparent that the remarkably well-preserved objects had been planted.
Before that, Mr. Putin had shown off his singing voice, judo moves and pectorals, inviting ridicule from the Moscow glitterati.
All was going according to plan when the cranes arrived a couple of weeks ago at the Belozersky Federal Reserve, where they were expected to fall in with a flock of wild gray cranes and continue on through Kazakhstan and into Uzbekistan.
Yet when the first snows fell at the reserve, five of the cranes stayed behind. Mr. Peskov said Wednesday that they had been flown back to the Oka State Biosphere Reserve where they had been raised.
www.nytimes.com/2012/10/11/world/europe/putins-cranes-fail-to-migrate-and-turn-back.html?_r=0
here is more video:
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/vladimir-putin/9524900/Flying-Vladimir-Putin-leads-birds-on-first-ever-migration-in-latest-publicity-stunt.html
Yet, with winter falling, it became clear on Wednesday that the six cranes could go no farther, and five have already been returned to captivity as passengers on an airplane. The sixth is in private hands and is expected to rejoin the others shortly.
“We have seen the sad news that the cranes could not fly south,” said Mr. Putin’s press secretary, Dmitri S. Peskov, speaking from the president’s official residence on Wednesday, the news agency Interfax reported.
Billed as “The Flight of Hope,” Mr. Putin’s September expedition was part of an ambitious plan to lead the cranes on their first migratory flight to a nature reserve to the south, from where they were to journey eventually to Uzbekistan. The stunt quickly became political fodder, the subject of Photoshop satire and jokes about Mr. Putin’s human followers. This was not the first highly publicized stunt by Mr. Putin to backfire. Last year, he “discovered” ancient Greek amphorae, wine or olive oil jugs, while scuba diving in shallow waters in the Black Sea. It was readily apparent that the remarkably well-preserved objects had been planted.
Before that, Mr. Putin had shown off his singing voice, judo moves and pectorals, inviting ridicule from the Moscow glitterati.
All was going according to plan when the cranes arrived a couple of weeks ago at the Belozersky Federal Reserve, where they were expected to fall in with a flock of wild gray cranes and continue on through Kazakhstan and into Uzbekistan.
Yet when the first snows fell at the reserve, five of the cranes stayed behind. Mr. Peskov said Wednesday that they had been flown back to the Oka State Biosphere Reserve where they had been raised.
www.nytimes.com/2012/10/11/world/europe/putins-cranes-fail-to-migrate-and-turn-back.html?_r=0
here is more video:
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/vladimir-putin/9524900/Flying-Vladimir-Putin-leads-birds-on-first-ever-migration-in-latest-publicity-stunt.html