“These beautiful pictures are truly something special to see”
Oasis of the Siberian Tiger is a unique project located in Slovakia that was founded in 1999 to protect the Siberian Tiger from extinction. The protected park now houses 22 striped Siberian Tigers. But, not long ago, another species also lived there.
Three German shepherds, Blacky, Hugo, and Jenny also called the oasis home. The dogs grew up in the park. That is where a very special friendship began to blossom not only with each other but also with some special tigers.
The friendship began when a two-year-old tiger cub named Suria developed a very special friendship with the dogs. Later, when she gave birth to a cub named Sunny, Sunny also became friends with the dogs.
“Suria plays with the dogs every day and they just love her,” one of the workers at Oasis told Caters News Agency.
“They are really like siblings and play together all day long,” the worker said. “They never hurt each other.”
The dogs and tigers love to play with each other. And the tigers are remarkably gentle with them. They love to run and play in the park and enjoyed getting rambunctious but never hurt each other.
According to Martin Ziman, a volunteer at the park, the dogs and tigers “got along famously.” Right away, Sunny learned how to play with the pups and learned to be gentle just like mom. The dogs and tigers act more like family than a rival species.
Despite the differences in their size and strength, the tigers never threatened the dogs. The powerful predators acted as if it was the most natural thing in the world to be frolicking in the sun with some German Shepherds.
It is hard to believe that the tigers and dogs were such good friends. Fortunately for all of us, in 2015, their relationship was captured on film by Lucia Zustakova, a visitor, and Martin Ziman, a volunteer known for his photography. Lucia Zustakova said:
“Suria plays with the dogs every day and they just love her. I love animals and love the oasis [sic]—it’s a great project to help these tigers that are facing extinction.”
The images are amazing. It’s breathtaking to see such powerful creatures playing like kittens with some dogs. Their park website doesn’t mention the dogs anymore and since dogs have shorter lifespans than tigers, they may no longer be at the park. But, we’d like to believe they are.
We’re just glad their special images were shared so we can all enjoy them. We hope you like them as much as we do. They are certainly not something you get to see every day. As always, please feel free to share with your friends.