Vladimir Putin secured on Monday another six years in office in an election marred by lower-than-expected voter turnout. The public’s participation in the election was seen as a litmus test for Putin’s performance in previous years, but his love for animals requires no scrutiny. Over the years, Putin had his pictures taken with dozens of animals, wild and domesticated. /VCG Photo

Putin has three dogs, including an Akita breed dog, Yume (L) and Buffy, a Karakachan dog gifted to him in November 2010 by then-Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov.

During a fishing trip to a national nature reserve in Tuva, southcentral Siberia in July 2013, Putin grabbed the opportunity to interact with reindeer. /VCG Photo

Putin was also pictured caressing a Persian leopard cub during a visit to a Persian leopard breeding and rehabilitation center in the National Park in the Black Sea resort of Sochi in September 2014. /VCG Photo

In October 2016, he released six horses from an acclimatization enclosure at the Przewalski Horse Reintroduction Center into the main part of the Orenburgsky state nature reserve during a trip to the Orenburg Region in Russia. /VCG Photo