Putin praises DiCaprio as 'a real man' as he survives air scares to make tiger summit... and then pledges $1m to save creature from extinction

Leonardo Dicaprio has pledged $1m towards a campaign to support tigers after two flight dramas which threatened his own survival.
The actor suffered a couple of mid-air scares to make it to St Petersburg for a summit meeting on the future of the big cats chaired by  Vladimir Putin.
The Russian Prime Minister praised the Blood Diamond star's efforts to reach the conference attended by officials from all 13 countries where tigers still live in the wild.

A real man: Russian PM Vladimir Putin praised Leonardo Dicaprio after the actor survived a couple of hazardous flights to make the International Tiger Forum, in St. Petersburg

DiCaprio was one of more than 200 people aboard a Moscow-bound Delta airlines flight that had to return to New York’s John F. Kennedy airport on Sunday when other pilots reported seeing a flash in one engine of the departing plane.
The actor then took a private jet that had to land in Finland early yesterday for refueling because of strong wind, Putin said.
'Not everyone would be willing to take a plane again after what Mr. DiCaprio experienced, but he did,' he told the audience at a rock concert dedicated to the tiger conservation effort.

Tough message: Vladimir Putin speaks to delegates - and spells out harsh punishments for those involved in the poaching or illicit trade of tiger parts

'Here, in Russia, we call such a person a "real man".'
'If wildlife and tiger conservation is in the hands of people with such character, we are destined to succeed,' he said.
DiCaprio committed $1m to the World Wildlife Fund to help support anti-poaching efforts and protect tiger habitat by 2022.

A-list action: Naomi Campbell and her boyfriend Vladislav Doronin flank Leo DiCaprio at the International Tiger Conservation Forum

DiCaprio has already helped the group raise $20m for tiger conservation this year.
Also showing her support for the cause was the supermodel Naomi Campbell, whose boyfriend is Russian.
The number of tigers worldwide has plunged some 95 per cent over the past century, to just 3,200 tigers living in the wild.

Deal: Russia's Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, right, and China's Premier Wen Jiabao exchange documents after agreeing a programme to boost tiger numbers by 2022d

The Global Tiger Recovery Programme estimates the 13 countries will need about $350m in outside funding in the first five years of the 12-year plan to ensure the animal has a future.
The countries - including Russia, which is home to Siberian tigers, the largest tiger subspecies - have agreed to double the tiger population by 2022, crack down on poaching and illicit trade in tiger pelts and body parts.
Impoverished countries such as Laos, Bangladesh and Nepal need sizeable donations from the west to prevent their citizens making a living from in such ways.

Race against time: Vladimir Putin is seen tagging a Siberian tiger while visiting the Barabash tiger reserve, in eastern Siberia

The nations will be seeking donor commitments to help finance conservation measures, the agreement said.
'The goal is difficult, but achievable,' said Putin, who has frequently used tigers to bolster his macho image, once shooting a full grown female tiger with a tranquiliser gun and placing a tracking collar on her.
He said Russia could help revive tiger populations in neighboring countries such as Iran and Kazakhstan.

Committed to cause: Leonardo Dicaprio fixes a camera trap with WWF staff Pradeep Khanal at Nepal's Bardia National Park

Russia was the only nation where the number of tigers has increased in recent decades - from several dozens in 1947 to some 500 now, Putin said.
Wildlife experts say, however, that Siberian tigers are still endangered. Their pelts, bones and meat are prized in traditional Chinese medicine, and some 100 of them are killed annually to be smuggled to China, a senior inspector from a natural preserve in the Primorsky region said.
Rampant deforestation of cedars contributes to massive migration of animals and forces tigers to forage villages and farms, where they often get killed, Anatoly Belov said.

Majestic: A Siberian tiger in the forests of Primorskii Provinve near Vladivostok, Russia, one of only 13 countries where the big cats still live in the wild