The little and large of it – Friendship blossoms for tiger and goat

Amur the tiger became a good friend with his prey and they now live in the same cage at a Russian Safari Park.

‘We think that the goat never came across tigers and no-one taught him to be scared of them, ‘ said the keeper.

“The fearless goat not only saved his own live”. “The cautious tiger was confused, and he decided not to mess with the goat and “waved his paw”.

Officials at the zoo have since named the plucky goat Timur after a character in a Soviet-era children’s book.

The Primorsky safari park runs a program for breeding rare tigers in captivity partly to give the large animal the chance to hunt his prey. Instead it looked directly at the cat and took over its shelter, moves that park workers have said was “very brave” on the part of the goat.

The tiger, named Amur, is used to killing and eating goats, as he is fed one twice a week, staff told the Siberian Times. “He kicked the tiger out of his bedroom and is sleeping on Amur’s ‘bed” for the fourth night. “Amur doesn’t regard the goat as his prey”, the director said, adding that the two chums eat and walk together.

Since then, Timur is reported to regularly sleep where Amur used to, forcing the mighty feline to take up a new spot on top of a shelter.

Unusual friendship occured in Far Eastern Safari Park at Shkotovsky, Primorsky region.