Thought this story might interest some of you. If you go to the  
website, there is a photo of the dog nursing the tigers.

Naomi




http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/odd_adopted_tigers
Golden retriever adopts tiger cubs at Kansas zoo
CANEY, Kan. - A dog at a southeast Kansas zoo has adopted three tiger  
cubs abandoned by their mother. Safari Zoological Park owner Tom  
Harvey said the tiger cubs were born Sunday, but the mother had  
problems with them.

A day later, the mother stopped caring for them. Harvey said the cubs  
were wandering around, trying to find their birth mother, who wouldn't  
pay attention to them. That's when the cubs were put in the care of a  
golden retriever, Harvey said.

Harvey said it's unusual for dogs to care for tiger cubs, but it does  
happen. He said he has seen reports of pigs nursing cubs in China, and  
he actually got the golden retriever after his wife saw television  
accounts of dogs caring for tiger cubs.

Puppies take about the same amount of time as tiger cubs to develop,  
and Harvey said the adoptive mother just recently weaned her own  
puppies.

"The timing couldn't have been any better," he said.

The mother doesn't know the difference, Harvey said. He said the  
adopted mother licks, cleans and feeds the cubs.

The Safari Zoological Park is a licensed facility open since 1989 and  
specializes in endangered species.

It has leopards, lions, cougars, baboons, ring-tailed lemurs, bears  
and other animals. It currently has seven white tigers and two orange  
tigers.

Because whit tigers are inbred from the first specimen found more than  
a half-century ago, they are not as genetically stable as orange tigers.

The zoo's previous litter of white tiger cubs was born April 23,  
although one of the three has since gone to a private zoo near  
Oklahoma City

------------------------------------------
Naomi Bar-Yam Ph.D.
Executive Director
Mothers' Milk Bank of New England

[log in to unmask]
617-964-6676
www.milkbankne.org
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