Safari park admits tiger DID attack his 'friend' the goat, threatening his life

Several days ago, Primorsky Safari Park admitted separating the tiger and goat but failed to explain that an attack - predicted by many - had happened. The incident came more than two months after the goat was fed to the big cat as live prey, but instead of eating him, they became friends. The inseparable pair have turned into a huge tourist attraction at the park in the Russian Far East. 

The attack on 26 January in the snow came after the goat pushed his luck, and brazenly butted the sleeping tiger with his horns, perhaps wanting him to play. 

'Timur pushed Amur down the slope, poked him with his horns and legs, and finally stepped on Amur while he was sleeping,' said director Dmitry Mesemtsev. 'Amur woke up, grabbed Timur with his teeth, shook him like a kitten, and threw him away. Then he lay down to rest again.'

Footage shows forlorn goat limping away in pain through the deep snow. Staff then distracted Amur - a Siberian tiger - with a meal of live rabbits and removed the goat, rushing him to a vet, Aleksey Anosov.

He said: 'We made anti-shock therapy to relieve stress and gave him antibiotics - strong medicines because it is likely the wounds are infected. We suppressed the development of infection, from which most of the animals die in such cases.'

Earlier the reason for the removal was given a potential change of behaviour from the tiger because a tigress in a nearby compound was entering her mating period. Male tigers 'are very sensitive in this period. They become aggressive and very unpredictable', said the director. 

And for weeks he has insisted that the bonding was so strong that there was no longer a threat to the courageous goat. But today he admitted 'emergency' action was needed to save the goat. 

He added: 'If the tiger wanted to kill the goat, he would have already done it. Amur's patience in this situation amazes me. He had been looking indulgently for so long on brazen Timur.'

But he admitted it was now 'too early' to say if the tiger and goat could be reunited. 'At the moment the goat needs to recover and relax,' he said. 

The park had earlier taken no action when on a previous occasion Amur pawed the goat. Amur is due to be introduced in future to his 'bride' Ussuri, another tigress already at the park.