This Stray Cat Broke Into A Lynx Enclosure At The Zoo And Now The Animals Are Best Friends

by Elana

Unlikely friendships between animal species are the sorts of things we live for, like The Dog and the Owl or The Dog and the Duck! But dogs don't hold the market on unlikely inter-species friendships, cats can bond unexpectedly with animals they would unlikely ever encounter if it weren't for human interference, too. Although, the cat you're going to meet today took it upon herself to befriend the most unlikely creature we could imagine... a Lynx living in the St. Petersburg zoo!

The Eurasian Lynx is a medium-sized wild cat, a predator that normally preys on small to fairly large sized mammals and birds. Their diverse diet includes animals like hares and squirrels to foxes, wild boar, and even deer! It would be rational to assume that a lynx would not find it outside the realm of normal to eat a creature like a domestic cat should it wander into its vicinity near enough to hunger cues... but that is not at all what happened at the zoo.

In 2007, a stray calico wandered into the St. Petersburg zoo and wandered around, seemingly aimlessly, until she happened upon the lynx enclosure.

In the enclosure, the lynx paced back and forth. Wild cats do not pace back and forth when living in their natural habitats, but according to upgradeyourcat.com, big cats in zoo enclosures pace for a sad reason:

The most common reason big cats, like tigers, lions, panthers, etc, tend to pace back and forth when they are in their enclosure because they are stressed.

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Why did the tiny calico kitty break into the lynx enclosure? No one could know with certainty, although some speculate the cat may have been hungry and smelled scraps. Cats are also notoriously great comfort companions for people and other animals in distress... Purr-haps this sweet calico cat saw a creature in need?

The mere thought of the small mammal getting close to the predator may have caused your heart to skip a beat, but the lynx did not attack. Instead, the lynx approached her new friend and began to lick the cat!

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Officials and employees of the zoo were shocked, to say the least. Fearing for the cat's safety, they went into the enclosure and removed the calico. Alas, that was not going to work because the little stray cat found her way back in rather quickly.

The unlikely duo had bonded, forming an unbreakable friendship.

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Realizing the friendship had formed, the zoo officials decided they should let the cat stay. They gave her a name, Dusya. The lynx, whose name is Linda, spent the next few years completely inseparable from each other.

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People flocked to visit the zoo, delighted to see the unlikely pair bonded, often grooming each other and the zoo regularly released endearing videos of the companions.