Dogs are man’s best friend, but that doesn’t mean that they can’t make friends with species other than us and their own. People once thought that a dog and a housecat cannot get along with each other, but it has been so long since this was disproven.
Dogs are highly social animals and there is plenty of proof that they can befriend other animals such as ducks, hedgehogs, and even tigers!
This Bengal tiger cub named Hunter, and a German Pointer puppy named Chelsea, ᴅᴇsᴘɪᴛᴇ their clear differences they became the simplest of friends.
Meet Hunter the tiger, he was born at The Farm Inn Hotel, a wildlife sᴀɴᴄᴛᴜᴀʀʏ in Pretoria, South Africa. However, the baby animal was rejected by its mother just a few days after his birth. His mom showed ᴀɢɢʀᴇssɪᴠᴇ behavior towards him. This hurts the cub, physically and mentally.
The staff couldn’t do anything to alleviate the mother’s aggressive behavior towards Hunter, so they had no choice but to take him away from his mother. The volunteers were the ones who acted as Hunter’s mothers, feeding, cleaning, and nurturing his growth. The tiger cub felt at ease and was already used to seeing the people around taking care of him.
“We believe that Hunter was born at a time when the feᴍᴀʟᴇ must have felt compromised in some way as she ʀᴇjᴇᴄᴛᴇᴅ him,” Anthea Michaletos, volunteer at the sᴀɴᴄᴛᴜᴀʀʏ said.
Thankfully, an adorable German Pointer puppy named Chelsea comes to Hunter and befriends him. They get on and form an inseparable bond. The ᴀʙᴀɴᴅᴏɴᴇᴅ cub finds love and comfort in his doggy friend.
“In the mornings once I take Chelsea out, she is going to run to his cage and greet him,” she said.
Chelsea is only 3 weeks older than Hunter. The pair gets along with each other. They love spending time together, from eating, sleeping to playing. Their favorite game is wrestling – push each other over and jump on. The tiger cub and the puppy have a lot of fun under the caretaker’s supervision.
Friendship comes in all shapes and sizes. The special relationship between Hunter and Chelsea can strongly prove this.