/ 21 February 2008

Presidential bunny dies of stress

The pet rabbit of Latvian President Valdis Zatlers, Leonardo da Vinci, has died, the Telegraf newspaper reported on Thursday.

Nicknamed Lisis, the five-year-old bunny possibly died of stress caused by a recent relocation to the presidential residence, Zatlers told the TV 5 channel.

The presidential pet, dubbed the First Bunny by the media, was thrown into the political arena along with his owner when Parliament appointed the politically unknown surgeon Zatlers as the president of the small Baltic country in May last year.

At the same time as Zatlers took his oath of office, the opposition staged the inauguration of the First Bunny.

Since Zatlers became president, Lisis had been feeling lonely, the president said in the past. — Sapa-dpa