Riga - 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 by the media as the First Bunny, was thrown into the political arena along with his owner when the parliament appointed the politically unknown surgeon Zatlers as the president of the small Baltic country in May 2007. Now you can get all your news - from politics in South Africa, the quirkiest stories in Step Beyond, the latest from the worlds of Motoring, Entertainment and Business - in one place. Independent Online is a wholly owned subsidiary of Independent News & Media. read more

Tags: independent, , zatlers, leonardo da vinci, bunny, president, leonardo da vinci paintings, news