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Rasputin

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Description

This is Rasputin, the male Siberian tiger (Panthera tigris altaica) residing at Allwetter-Zoo, Münster, Germany.
He seemed very interested in interacting with his visitors.
I've never been that close to a tiger, Siberian or otherwise. I was literally on my knees to get this. Shot through glass, luckily. See below!

Other shots from this zoo include his female companion Nely: Nely by NB-Photo Tiger before a wall by NB-Photo and the two of them together: Should I pursue him? by NB-Photo Tenderness by NB-Photo

I just learned that this guy actually killed his keeper in September 2013. This unlucky man wanted to clean the exterior enclosure (which is quite large for a zoo) and thought he had locked up Rasputin and Nely in their inner cage for feeding, but forgot to secure the lock. Then Rasputin spotted him and immediately jumped at him and killed him with a bite to the neck, and rushed back to his cage. For those of you who speak German, you can read the details here:

www.tagesspiegel.de/weltspiege…

In a very similar case in the Zoo of Cologne in 2012, the resident male Siberian tiger Altai also killed his female keeper in nearly identical circumstances. However, in Cologne the tiger was shot dead by the zoo director because he didn't move away from the woman who they thought was still alive and could perhaps be saved.

Well, as you can see, Rasputin is still alive, one reason being that he just defended his territory and did nothing wrong, according to the zoo director in Münster.

These two cases have, in Germany and elsewhere, triggered public debates about whether big cats and other potentially dangerous predators should be kept in zoos...
Image size
3000x2000px 5.33 MB
Make
NIKON CORPORATION
Model
NIKON D600
Shutter Speed
1/1000 second
Aperture
F/4.5
Focal Length
85 mm
ISO Speed
3200
Date Taken
Jun 20, 2015, 2:51:54 PM
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darkSoul4Life's avatar
Tolle Perspektive.