- Suria the Siberian tiger lives at a Slovakian wildlife sanctuary along with her four-month-old cub, Sunny
- The two-year-old tiger is close friends with a pack of three German shepherds called Blacky, Hugo and Jenny
- The animals were all born at the Oasis wildlife sanctuary in Senec, Slovakia run by big cat expert Yveta Irsova
- According to volunteers, the sanctuary is part of a breeding programme to help save the Siberian Tiger
This
is the amazing friendship which has developed between three German
shepherds and a pair of endangered Siberian tigers in a nature reserve.
The dogs, Blacky, Hugo and Jenny - are inseparable from big cat Suria and new-born tiger cub Sunny.
Suria
and Sunny were both born at the Oasis of the Siberian Tiger, in Senec,
Slovakia - a protected area that breeds Siberian tigers.
Suria the Siberian tiger was bred at the wildlife sanctuary and has grown up alongside Jenny the German shepherd, right
According to workers at the wildlife
park, the tigers and the dogs are inseparable, despite a believed
animosity between cats and dogs
The dogs and the tigers enjoy playing
with each other and often engage in play fights, but never inflict any
damage on each other
The older tiger - Suria - has been inseparable from the dogs since she was born two years ago.
Incredibly,
the Oasis's newest addition - four-month-old cub Sunny - seems to be
following in her footsteps and has struck up a friendship with the
canines too.
The
playing dogs and tigers were spectacularly captured by Lucia Zustakova,
who was visiting the Oasis, and also Martin Ziman, a volunteer at the
oasis and regularly takes videos of the amazing scenes.
Their
daily playtime allows the group to interact, sometimes getting quite
rowdy as the boisterous animals play-fight and chase after each other
excitedly.
Lucia, 29, said: 'It is nice to see it all and it is so amazing when you are so near these beautiful animals.
Suria the tiger was born in the wildlife reserve in Slovakia some two years ago and grew up alongside the the German shepherds
Suria, left, and Hugo, right, were introduced to each other soon after they were born some two years ago
Sunny, the four-month-old cub is already friendly with the dogs and seems highly likely to continue the unusual friendship
Since first being introduced, the dogs and the tigers have been the best of friends much to the delight of visitors
'Suria plays with the dogs every day and they just love her.
'I love animals and love the oasis - it's a great project to help these tigers that are facing extinction.'
The oasis is run by Yveta Irsova, who also owns the dogs. It opened in 1999 and houses 28 tigers, 23 of which were born there.
The
sanctuary aims to rescue a small population of tigers from extinction
and contribute to the genetic pool for the breeding of the critically
endangered lions.
With
several species of tigers already extinct, Yveta and her staff are
completely passionate about trying to stop the same fate happening to
Siberian tigers, who are victims of intense poaching and habitat loss.
Martin said: 'The dogs are almost same age as Suria and have grown up together. They spend most of the time together.
'They are really like siblings and play together all day long. They never hurt each other.'
Suria's cub Sunny, who is four months
old, seems also to be calm around the dogs and appears willing to
continue the unusual friendship
Suria, right, playfully uses her
powerful left paw on one of her canine friends, in what in the wild
would have been a killer move
The unusual friendship has developed at the Oasis wildlife sanctuary in Senec, Slovakia over the past two years
The oasis is run by Yveta Irsova, who also owns the dogs. It opened in 1999 and houses 28 tigers, 23 of which were born there
The sanctuary aims to rescue a small
population of tigers from extinction and contribute to the genetic pool
for the breeding lions
Yveta and her staff are completely
passionate about trying to stop the Siberian tigers from becoming
extinct with her breeding programme
The dogs and the tigers have no
problems socialising with each other because they spent such an amount
of time growing up together
The Siberian tiger is facing
extinction because of hunting and a loss of its natural habitat in its
native home in far eastern Russia
The breeding programme hopes to scientifically spread the genetic diversity of the remaining Siberian tigers across the world
Workers at the park believe that the dogs and the tigers behave more like siblings rather than rival species
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