The famous Chelyabinsk veterinarian Karen Dallakyan, who is celebrating his 42nd birthday today, October 31, received a birthday gift - a photo report about his pet tiger Zhorik, who now lives in one of the reserves of the Khabarovsk Territory. The once sick tiger cub, who underwent 17 operations in his life, has grown into a huge, beautiful beast.

“A very nice gift!” Dallakyan writes on his blog.

Zhorik came to Karen Dallakyan in December 2009 from the Kurgan mobile zoo, after the tiger cub was fed chicken and a thin bone pierced the predator’s palate. The wound led to sepsis, and half of the animal's face became swollen.

The menagerie was in Yekaterinburg at that time, and local doctors made an incorrect diagnosis, simply removed the tiger’s tooth, and the unfortunate animal found itself on the brink of life and death. It was in this condition that the tiger ended up in the clinic of Chelyabinsk veterinarian Karen Dallakyan, who saved the cub, performed a number of operations, but did not return it to the menagerie.

Zhorik was bought for 150 thousand rubles: the money was collected by the whole world. For some time, Zhorik lived in a temporary enclosure in the courtyard of a private house in Chelyabinsk, and then he was transported to the Utes rehabilitation center for disabled predators, which agreed to take Zhorik. Moreover, Vladimir Putin, then the Prime Minister of the Russian Federation, became interested in the fate of the tiger cub - he instructed the Ministry of Natural Resources of the Russian Federation to help transport Zhora.

In October 2010, Zhora was sent to the Sikhote-Alin Nature Reserve in the Khabarovsk Territory, where a rehabilitation center is located. There Zhorik underwent several more operations and finally recovered. And in the spring of this year, he became the mascot of the European Judo Championship, held in Chelyabinsk, and Zhorik’s figurines were distributed all over the world.

What a handsome man he has grown up to be! The tiger cub Zhorik, who was saved by the whole world, including Vladimir Putin, has become a large, respectable animal. PHOTO