posted May 17, 2007 09:42 PM         

A dog feeds tiger triplets and her own puppy, right, at the Paomaling Zoo in Jinan, China, May 16.
Lu Chuanquan, Xinhua / AP
A dog feeds tiger triplets and her own puppy, right, at the Paomaling Zoo in Jinan, China, Wednesday. The cubs' mother rejected them.

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The cubs, whom officials at the Jinan Paomaling Wild Animal World in Shandong province are so far just calling "One," "Two" and "Three," have been nursed by a dog since they were rejected by their tiger mother shortly after birth, said Paomaling manager Chen Yucai.

The trio's adoptive mother, a mixed breed farm dog called "Huani," is expected to nurse them for about a month or until their appetites outpace her supply, Chen said.

Chen said it is common for Chinese zoos to use surrogate dog mothers to nurse rejected tiger cubs and that Huani has nursed tigers before.

In the past, Paomaling put dog urine on their rejected cub's fur to make the surrogate think she was nursing one of her own puppies but the zoo didn't bother with Huani because she seemed not to mind nursing the tigers, he said.

"The family is getting along well and seems to enjoy each other," Chen said.

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2007-05-17 09:23:20
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