Cat Comforts Grieving Orangutan at Zoo

[LynneSin]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060310/ap_on_fe_st/comfort...

PANAMA CITY BEACH, Fla. - Tondalayo, a 45-year-old Sumatran orangutan, and T.J., a stray tabby cat, became an inseparable duo after a zoo employee introduced them late last year.

Stephanie Willard, Education Director at Zoo World in Panama City Beach, said Tondalayo was depressed since losing her mate two years ago.

Her age prevented her from moving to another zoo or taking another mate. The ducks and turtles swimming in a moat around her island were not enough, Willard told the Panama City News Herald for Thursday's editions.

When the sweet-natured orange cat wandered into Willard's life, the solution became clear.

"It's an unbelievable match," Willard said. "This has worked out a lot better than I expected it to. She's got brighter eyes now. He's brought a lot of light to her."

<<<<SNIP>>>>

They play together, cuddle and sleep together each night. They have been together constantly for more than a month.

[WCGreen]

1. AWWWWWWWW

[El Fuego]

2. Aww, I wish they had a pic!

[CornField]

4. Me too

[Sequoia]

7. Here is is!!!

Primate and mate: A stray tabby named T.K. nuzzles Tonda at Zooworld near Panama City Beach, Fla. The two have become fast friends since T.K. moved into the orang's quarters two months ago. Tonda had been lonely since losing her mate two years ago.

SF Day in Pictures

http://www.sfgate.com/

[El Fuego]

9. That is so sweet!!!!

Awww!!!! Thanks for finding it!

[Sequoia]

10. You're welcome. SF Gate prints lots of photos like this

I've found the photo of the hamster and snake, the hippo and giant turtle, a horse and a goat...what's up with these animals hanging together. My tin foil hat tells me something's up in this world that they can sense but we can't. Or, have I not been watching enough Nova or Disovery Channel to know this happens all the time. Wait (smacking head with hand) Disney....does it all the time!

[laheina]

13. That's a keeper! nt

[Sanity Claws]

15. How wonderful!

I love pictures like this.

[redwitch]

3. that is very sweet.

Let's hear it for frienship!

[Arugula Latte]

5. Aw. That reminds me of Koko and her kitten/s.

Primates and kitties -- an unbeatable combination!

[blindpig]

6. We tried that once with a goat.

I was a zookeeper back in the 70's. Our sole Orang, Jiggs, was pining because his long time cage mate, Tanya the Chimp had been remove when we received a potential mate for her. So we put a goat in with him. (Our Assistant Director had a great belief in goats as companion animals, we did the same with a young elephant.) All was well for a while, they seemed to get along well. Perhaps too well. One Sunday afternoon we keepers were kicking back, keeping an eye on the masses, when we noticed a big commotion in front of Jigg's cage. Peeping from our undisclosed location we saw that Jiggs was screwing the goat, and she seemed OK with it. People were rushing their children past, being all outraged etc. We like to laughed til we died. Sadly in his enthusiasm Jiggs appeared to have dislocated the goats hip or something so she was removed back to her much more boring life at the children's zoo where she recovered nicely.

[Lars39]

12. LOL

[laheina]

14. I was going to say that goats don't seem that cuddly,

but maybe they are.

[flamingyouth]

8. That's so cool

[mitchum]

11. That's a beautiful story