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Another goat and tiger cub strike up friendship in Russian safari park

Six-month-old tiger named Sherkhan and a young goat called Timurid were transferred to a single enclosure in Russia’s Far East, where Amur the tiger and Timur the goat soared into limelight in 2015
A two-month old Siberian tiger cub Sherkhan Yuri Smityuk/TASS
A two-month old Siberian tiger cub Sherkhan
© Yuri Smityuk/TASS

VLADIVOSTOK, April 5. /TASS/. On Wednesday, six-month-old tiger named Sherkhan and a young goat called Timurid were transferred to a single enclosure in the Primorsky safari park in Russia’s Far East, the park’s director Dmitry Mezentsev said in a statement published on its website. According to him, the two are following in the footsteps of Amur the tiger and Timur the goat who used to live together in the park.

"Amur the tiger has a son named Sherkhan while Timur the goat has a son called Timurid. On April 5, both Sherkhan and Timurid were let out into a large enclosure, where Amur and Timur used to live. A dog named Tabaki joined Sherkhan the tiger and Timurid the goat. Now these animals, so different from one another, will live together," Mezentsev wrote.

Amur the tiger and Timur the goat soared into limelight in 2015. Tigers in the Primorsky safari park are usually given live prey twice a week so that they could preserve their hunting instinct. Thus, Amur had an opportunity to hunt goats and rabbits. In the autumn of 2015, a goat named Timur not only challenged the tiger but also attacked him which led the tiger to accepting him as his leader and start to follow him everywhere.

However, Amur and Timur were separated after the tiger wounded the goat who had been disturbing him by poking at him with his horns. Timur was sent away for medical treatment and later put in a separate enclosure.

The story of their friendship between Amur and Timur made the Primorsky safari park internationally famous.

It has been declared one of the major regional tourist attractions.

Last year, Amur became the father of a tiger cub who was given the name of Sherkhan. The cub was born very weak and the zoo’s vets took great pains to make him live.