Animal tragic: Russia’s odd couple romance over

A romance that enchanted Russia may be over: Timur the goat and Amur the tiger have had a fight and are no longer together.

Vladivostok’s tiger and goat romance is over. Image by Mike B in Colorado

The goat was placed in the tiger’s compound in a wildlife park near Vladivostok in November with the expectation that the big cat would eventually kill and eat him. But the two not only tolerated each other, they appeared to become friends. The odd couple became a popular topic on social media, and T-shirts celebrating them went on sale.

But Timur started pushing it, constantly annoying and butting the tiger. “Finally, the tiger couldn’t hold back, grabbed the goat by the withers and tossed him,” park director Dmitry Mezentsev told state news agency Tass. “We decided to put them in different enclosures for a while.”

(Press Association)