Siberian Tiger Becomes Best Friends with Condemned Goat

There’s no shortage of animal odd-couple stories that force us to say “awwwww” and make us speak in gibberish about how stinking cute it all is. There’s even an acclaimed PBS program dedicated to the subject, aptly titled “Animal Odd Couples.” If you’re a fan of the aforementioned stories, then buckle up–because we’ve got one for you that might permanently alter the timbre of your voice to have a squealing, babyish quality.

Meet Amur the Siberian tiger and Timur the goat. One is a ferocious hunter at the top of the food chain, the other is a goat who can’t believe his damn luck. The charming duo first met when Timur was scheduled to be Amur’s dinner, but apparently Amur doesn’t care much for goat (his loss, honestly). Instead, Amur and Timur became best buds, and now they’ve captured the hearts of people everywhere.

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“The situation is really weird. For three years running we have fed Amur a huge number of goats, rabbits, roosters and rams,” said Dmitry Mezentsev, the general director of the Primorsky Safari Park. “As a rule, Amur gets prey twice a week. My only explanation is that this couldn’t have happened without interference of the higher power.”

The story of the duo’s first encounter is quite amusing. As told by the Washington Post:

“The friendship started after the goat, seemingly unfazed that it was on the dinner menu, chased the tiger out of his sleeping place, a converted aviary, and claimed the comfortable area for its own. Amur, apparently confused that the goat was not properly submissive, went to sleep on the roof.”

“Amur has never rejected prey before,” Mezentsev said. “There was just one case when the goat given to Amur lived through the night. Amur ate him the following morning.”