Miniature Dachshund Milo & Bonedigger The Lion Are Best Friends
A 500-pound lion and an 11-pound dog have formed an unlikely friendship, proving that cats and dogs really can get along. Bonedigger the lion and Milo the dachshund live together at Garold Wayne Exotic Animal Park in Wynnewood, Okla., along with three other dogs.
The puppies were introduced to Bonedigger in 2008 when he was just a 4-week-old cub. A metabolic bone disease rendered the lion mildly disabled. Park president Joe Schreibvogel - who goes by the name "Joe Exotic" - thinks the lion's state has something to do with the connection the animals formed.
"The dogs thought it was just a big puppy and have loved each other since," he told The Today Show. "I also think they know the lion is not as normal as the rest."
Exotic says that Milo and his littermates sensed that Bonedigger was crippled, and they sought to protect him. Today, the animals cuddle, dine on raw meat together and even mimic each other.
Milo is Bonedigger's closest friend, and he often tries to imitate the lion's growls. He also serves as Bonedigger's personal dentist.
After the animals eat, 5-year-old Milo licks the lion's teeth clean, and Bonedigger returns the gesture by licking the dog with a tongue nearly the size of the dog's head.
Although seeing four small dogs run around the grounds with the king of the jungle concerns some visitors, Exotic says he wouldn't dare separate the animals.
"You do not ever try to take his dogs out of the yard," Exotic said. "[It] makes him very mad. They sleep on top of him."
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A 500-pound lion and an 11-pound dog have formed an unlikely friendship, proving that cats and dogs really can get along. Bonedigger the lion and Milo the dachshund live together at Garold Wayne Exotic Animal Park in Wynnewood, Okla., along with three other dogs.
The puppies were introduced to Bonedigger in 2008 when he was just a 4-week-old cub. A metabolic bone disease rendered the lion mildly disabled. Park president Joe Schreibvogel - who goes by the name "Joe Exotic" - thinks the lion's state has something to do with the connection the animals formed.
"The dogs thought it was just a big puppy and have loved each other since," he told The Today Show. "I also think they know the lion is not as normal as the rest."
Exotic says that Milo and his littermates sensed that Bonedigger was crippled, and they sought to protect him. Today, the animals cuddle, dine on raw meat together and even mimic each other.
Milo is Bonedigger's closest friend, and he often tries to imitate the lion's growls. He also serves as Bonedigger's personal dentist.
After the animals eat, 5-year-old Milo licks the lion's teeth clean, and Bonedigger returns the gesture by licking the dog with a tongue nearly the size of the dog's head.
Although seeing four small dogs run around the grounds with the king of the jungle concerns some visitors, Exotic says he wouldn't dare separate the animals.
"You do not ever try to take his dogs out of the yard," Exotic said. "[It] makes him very mad. They sleep on top of him."
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Isn't it amazing that animals, whether wild or domesticated, show more compassion that supposedly superior intellect human beings!! Hope they all continue to have long and healthy lives together.
See? Now why can't we learn from animals? All of us are the same on the inside, and even the most unlikeliest of friendships and bonds have formed between animals. Why can't we just do the same?
I truly believe that people will never get along. Just not in us to do so, no matter how much some may want it. We have language and if all others do not conform to our image and worse of all, our beliefs, well the war is on. People are tribal, no doubt about it. All people are this way. As individuals we may get along, but not as groups. I doubt if a pride of lions would be this way with the wee dog, even if brought up with it. Just saying.'
That is amazing.