"Putin" is renamed - at least in a wildlife park in Upper Franconia.
A wild boar lives there with the name of the Russian President, but it is said to have it withdrawn because of the war of aggression in Ukraine.
"It is beneath all dignity what the man pulls off," says Eckard Mickisch, the operator of the Waldhaus Mehlmeisel wildlife park (Bayreuth district), with a view to the real Putin.
The new name will be determined in an online vote.
He got the animal as a freshman, says Mickisch.
Because the boar was of Russian descent, he called him Putin "with a smile".
"Meanwhile it has turned out that no sow deserves such a name," says Mickisch.
A few days after the attack on Ukraine, he decided not to use the name anymore.
Ukrainian refugees would have free entry to the park.
"Children come with their mothers, laugh and are happy - and suddenly the name "Putin" comes up," says Mickisch.
"The name has to go just out of respect for these people."
"He's not a dictator"
The animal "Putin" is four years old and weighs a good 200 kilograms - and is still far from adult, his father weighed 350 kilograms.
"These are really brute devices," says Mickisch, referring to the Russian wild boars, which can therefore become significantly heavier than their Central European relatives.
"Putin" is socially acceptable and sociable, but in his herd of 21 animals in the wild boar enclosure, the upper boar is already there.
“When he gets to the feeding trough, everyone scoots to the side.
But he's not a dictator," says Mickisch.
There were a good 2,700 new name suggestions after an initial call to the public.
Selenskyj and Klitschko actually turned out to be favourites.
"But I don't want to politicize," says Mickisch.
The operators limited the suggestions to five names.
You can vote on them online until Sunday.
"This time we're going to do it totally democratically," says Mickisch.
You can choose from "Igor", "Frederick", "Mir" (Ukrainian and Russian for "peace"), "Eberhofer" and "Gustl".