The Russian tiger Amur and his unlikely friend goat Timur became an overnight sensation when the stripy predator left his horny dinner alive, instead of devouring him.
But for the last 2 days the social media was alarmed: No new videos or updates appeared, which caused a spread of rumours that the tiger eat the goat.
Did Amur Eat Timur?
According to the park’s website, the goat and the tiger’s friendship is still going strong.
The zookeepers separated the sweet duo, providing the tiger with new living quarters for the night, however, they are still hanging together during the day.
Tourists come to the park to check if the tiger eat the goat — no, they are still friends. (Photo: screenshot)
The goat was left in the former tiger’s bedroom, which the predator allowed him to occupy. For the first few nights together the goat was sleeping in the hideout, and the tiger was spending nights on the roof.
4 days ago the tiger was moved to a new yard next to his usual playground. To get him there, the workers used the feeding time, when the tiger is given meat.
However, the goat Timur was upset about it, and refused to go to his resting place until late at night around 11 pm.
The new 22-minute video shot on 30 November and 1 December has been uploaded to the park’s YouTube channel, showing the new developments in the life of the peculiar pair.
On 30 November, to make the goat go to bed earlier, the park’s workers decided to try to get him there by force.
But their strategy backfired: The goat, who is very calm and happy in the presence of the tiger, became terrified when people tried to get him in order to take to his cage. He was running around to escape being caught.
The goat was visibly distressed during the ordeal.
The park’s director Dmitry Mezentsev, author of today’s video.
When the people finally left empty-handed, he went to the space near Amur’s new living quarters, and stayed there for the whole night.
The goat didn’t go to his bedroom that night. He waited until the door was open for the tiger to enter the playground the next morning, and then followed him to the feeding place. The goat pushed away the tiger and went for the drink. Then the goat started eating hungrily, as he had no food for the last 12-14 hours, because he was afraid to go to his bedroom.
The goat seemed to be so hungry that he didn’t go for the usual walk around the playground with the tiger, who circled the space on his own.
The director of the park Dmitry Mezentsev concludes that the goat feels stressed in the presence of people but relaxes when the tiger is around.
The night from 1 to 2 December the goat again spent next to the tiger’s enclosure, afraid to go to his own sleeping place and lose the sight of his protector.
Mezentsev said in the video that the media from all over the world had been ringing the park every hour, trying to find out if the goat was still all right.
(The photos here are screenshots from the video.)
How The Goat and The Tiger Met
The goat was given to the tiger as a meal. In the park tigers are getting live prey twice weekly, and Amur has been hunting and eating goats before.
However, he didn’t eat the male goat, which was supposed to become a part of his daily ration, and now refuse to hurt him.
Once zookeepers realized that the tiger was not going to eat the goat, they made a video and posted it online. Millions of people became enthralled in the feel-good story of improbable friends.
Safari Park’s Amur Tiger Breeding Program
The moment of Tigress Ussiri and Tiger Amur’s introduction in November 2015.
The Safari Park in Primorski region near Vladivostok in the Russian Far East runs a breeding program, trying to maintain the population of Amur tigers.
This species of tigers is rare. It’s estimated that there are only 500 wild animals left in the natural environment, although there are more in zoo parks.
This is why the park exchanged one of the male tigers named Tikhon to a female called Ussuri, to make a future partner for the young Amur. The tigress and her groom were introduced to each other on her arrival in early November 2015. However, the two animals will not be spending time together until she reaches the age of maturity. This will happen in about 1.5 years.
May be it was this brief introduction that caused the young tiger realize his loneliness, which caused him to leave Timur alive?
Video: Tigress Ussuri Arrives to The Park
The stunning tigress arrives to the Safari Park, where she is introduced to the Tiger Amur, her future mate.
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I was flabbergasted when I saw this news! This is so amazing! These two animals get along so perfectly, like they aren’t a predator and its prey. We should learn from these animals how to be friendly and how to love and cherish each other. Hope to read something new about them!