Caged cat which was down in the dumps cheers up after it is given pet mice

dailymail.co.uk

A caged tiger was given two live mice for a snack to cheer him up - only for the three animals to end up becoming friends.

Sandokan the tiger became depressed after his life partner of 13 years died at their zoo in the city of Galati in eastern Romania.

Zoo keepers brought Samira, a younger female tiger, to the cage, but the male tiger ignored her.

After racking their brains to come up with another solution, zoo staff decided the best thing would be to find him some alternative amusement.

They released two mice into his cage - but rather than eating the tiny animals, he lets them wander around his cage and even play in his fur.

Zoo spokesman Madalin Serban said: 'After his partner died last year we became very worried about Sandokan because he stopped eating and began gnawing at his own tail.

'It was very clear that he was mourning the loss.

'Other zoos tend to use medical treatments to cure animals of this sort of thing but that would have meant administering the drugs with a tranquilliser gun, which can be very traumatic for the animals.

'So we wanted to come up with a better solution and then we hit upon the idea of giving him a few live mice to play with, assuming that he would probably eat them.

'But instead he befriended them, making them into his new pals. Mice are great pets for humans as they are friendly and happily will interact but we didn't reckon a tiger would want them as a pet, but he did and now he is back to his old self.

'He happily lets the mice run around and play in his fur and the three live together just great.'