Dog nurses 2 ligers after tiger mom abandons them

In this photo taken on Thursday, May 19, 2011, a dog
nurses two liger cubs at a zoo in Weihai in east China's
Shandong province. Cong Wen of Xixiakou Wildlife Zoo
in eastern China says four cubs were born to a female tiger
and a male lion on May 13. The tiger mom fed the ligers for
four days then for unknown reasons abandoned them, she
says. Chinese zoo workers brought in a dog to nurse them
instead, but two died of weakness. (AP Photo) CHINA OUT

Posted on Tue, May. 24, 2011 04:50 AM
The Associated Press

A Chinese zoo official says two rare cubs born to a male lion and a female tiger are being nursed by a dog after they were abandoned by their mother.

Cong Wen of Xixiakou Wildlife Zoo in eastern China says four cubs called ligers were born to the lion and tiger earlier this month.

She said Tuesday the tiger mother fed the ligers for four days but then abandoned them for unknown reasons. Two died of weakness.

Cong said staff at the zoo in Shandong province found a dog who had just given birth to feed the surviving cubs.

She said the two cubs had trouble at first drinking milk from the dog but are now used to it.

Ligers are rare and are sometimes bred in zoos by mistake.

http://www.kansascity.com/2011/05/24/2898589/dog-nurses-ligers-after-tiger.html

Dog defies nature to adopt kitten

2 July 2010

A dog had adopted a kitten and is nursing it along with its puppies in China.

Li Dajie bought the newborn kitten when her pet dog was about to give birth, reports the Guilin Evening Post.

Li, of Mapu village, Guangxi province, said: "One needed a mother's love, while the other was about to be a mother.

"The kitten and the dog got along very well from the very start, and quickly became inseparable."

When the dog had a litter of four puppies, the kitten started to suckle its adopted mother's milk alongside its canine brothers and sisters.

Li said the kitten had grown very fast since starting to drink dog milk, quadrupling in size within a month.

"The puppies were very weak in the beginning, and couldn't even open their eyes, while the kitten was already jumping and running, stalking its dog mother all day long.

"Sometimes when the dog is feeding the puppies, the kitten squeezes in to fight for a nipple, even if it just got fed. Each time the dog mother would lick its back to calm it down."

Li said her friends and relatives are always visiting her now to see the amazing love between dog and cat for themselves.

http://web.orange.co.uk/article/quirkies/Dog_defies_nature_to_adopt_kitten

Owl adopts ducklings born in 30ft-high nest

Friday, 14 May 2010

A tawny owl is acting as surrogate mother to two ducklings born 30ft (9.1m) up a tree after their natural mother laid her eggs in the wrong nest.

Mary Hartley was expecting to see owlets after four eggs appeared in her nest box in Marple Bridge, Stockport.

But when she checked a nest box camera she was surprised to find two Mandarin ducklings jumping around inside.

Despite the perilous height of the box, Mrs Hartley said they would eventually climb out and "float down".

The bird enthusiast has had owls nesting in her garden for the past 25 years.

'Very caring'

Two owlets, also born in the nest, are being cared for by the mother alongside the two-day-old ducklings.

Speaking to the BBC, Mrs Hartley said: "We think that the mandarin duck must have gone into the box - because we have two pairs of mandarins - and laid her eggs and suddenly realised it was the owl box.

"Because when the owl came back she then laid her own eggs in the box - confusion all round."

But even though the ducklings' surrogate mother is a predator, she has shown no sign of aggression towards them.

"She's been very good," Mrs Hartley said.

"She's been very caring, although it does confuse her a little when she tries to feed them with meat - because of course they don't like it."

Another mandarin duck has already successfully raised 13 ducklings born in another - albeit empty - owl box in the garden, leading Mrs Hartley to believe the current pair will survive.

"They all managed to jump out of the box on their own as mother calls them," Mrs Hartley added.

"And because the box is 30ft up the tree it's quite exciting as she waits at the bottom to see if they can float down and she can take them to the stream."

See video at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/manchester/8682411.stm

Foster squirrel mum

02 April 2010 16:30 GMT

A US woman's pet dog nursed three baby squirrels as her own offspring.

Gail Latta from North Carolina - who tried to feed the homeless animals canned milk when their mother abandoned them - was delighted when her pet poodle Pixie began caring for them.

However, after two weeks together, Gail discovered she might accidentally be violating state regulations by keeping wildlife in her house, so Pixie and her new brood had to be separated.

The squirrels have since been sent away to an animal rehabilitation specialist.

http://entertainment.stv.tv/showbiz/167562-foster-squirrel-mum/

Hen thinks it's a dog and adopts puppies

March 4, 2010 3:57 PM

A farmyard hen which thinks it is a dog has adopted a litter of puppies and started nesting on top of them in their dog basket.

Owners Edward and Ros Tate say the batty bird took a shine to the pups at the Shrewsbury farm when their mother left them alone.

Mabel, who is kept as a family pet, hopped on top of the dogs in their basket and put her wings over them to keep them warm.

Since then she has treated them as though they are her own chicks and even become protective of them if anyone approaches.

The pups natural mother Nettle would be forgiven for being in a fowl mood when this happened but doesn't appear to mind being hen-pecked.

http://newslite.tv/2010/03/04/hen-thinks-its-a-dog-and-adopt.html

Three Baby Pigs Rests Next To Their Adoptive Mother, Sai Mai, An Eight-Year-Old Tiger, At The Sriracha Tiger Zoo In Thailand's Chonburi Province

Date: 27-Jan-10
Country: THAILAND
Author: REUTERS

Photo: Sukree Sukplang

Three Baby Pigs Rests Next To Their Adoptive Mother, Sai Mai, An Eight-Year-Old Tiger, At The Sriracha Tiger Zoo In Thailand's Chonburi Province

Three baby pigs rests next to their adoptive mother, Sai Mai, an eight-year-old tiger, at the Sriracha Tiger Zoo in Thailand's Chonburi Province, nearly 100 km (62 miles) east of Bangkok January 26,2010.

Tiger numbers have fallen by more than 70 percent in slightly more than a decade in the Greater Mekong, with the region's five countries containing only 350 tigers, according to a World Wildlife Fund (WWF) report released on Monday.

http://planetark.org/wen/56491
(Submitted by Tim Chapman)

Owner 'gives meerkats toy mother'

Friday, November 27 2009, 14:41 GMT
By Mayer Nissim, Entertainment Reporter

The owner of five baby meerkats whose mother died in childbirth has given the animals a cuddly toy as a replacement.

Steve Rowlands, 28, has used the ten-inch figure and a hot water bottle to help the meerkats at Tropical Inc in Oldbury, West Midlands, The Daily Telegraph reports.

Rowlands said: "The babies are a month old now and they lost their mum just two days after they were born.

"We bought the toy to try and lessen the trauma for them and try and make things as natural as possible. We put it in with them and they just snuggled up to it like it was their mother.

"To recreate the warmth that Anika would have given off we also found a small hot water bottle we got the right temperature."

He added: "They now assume that the toy is their mum and they acting completely normally around it. Of course every hour we have to feed them milk ourselves, but use miniature little bottles which recreate how they would get it from mum.

"We even give it to them near the toy so they can't tell the difference between it and their mother - it's a really good result.

"At around six weeks old we are going to wean them away from their cuddly mum, as they would be in real life. That's when we can hopefully put them back in with their dad."

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/odd/news/a188877/owner-gives-meerkats-toy-mother.html

Owner 'gives meerkats toy mother'

Friday, November 27 2009, 14:41 GMT
By Mayer Nissim, Entertainment Reporter

The owner of five baby meerkats whose mother died in childbirth has given the animals a cuddly toy as a replacement.

Steve Rowlands, 28, has used the ten-inch figure and a hot water bottle to help the meerkats at Tropical Inc in Oldbury, West Midlands, The Daily Telegraph reports.

Rowlands said: "The babies are a month old now and they lost their mum just two days after they were born.

"We bought the toy to try and lessen the trauma for them and try and make things as natural as possible. We put it in with them and they just snuggled up to it like it was their mother.

"To recreate the warmth that Anika would have given off we also found a small hot water bottle we got the right temperature."

He added: "They now assume that the toy is their mum and they acting completely normally around it. Of course every hour we have to feed them milk ourselves, but use miniature little bottles which recreate how they would get it from mum.

"We even give it to them near the toy so they can't tell the difference between it and their mother - it's a really good result.

"At around six weeks old we are going to wean them away from their cuddly mum, as they would be in real life. That's when we can hopefully put them back in with their dad."

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/odd/news/a188877/owner-gives-meerkats-toy-mother.html

Baby gibbon gets surrogate mother

Click to enlarge

Metro Ireland, 26 November 2009, p12.

Baby gibbon gets surrogate mother

Click to enlarge

Metro Ireland, 26 November 2009, p12.

Cat at shelter nursing baby chihuahua after mom dies

by Ryan O'Donnell / 3TV
October 1, 2009

PHOENIX - A baby Chihuahua was left without a mother and in order to survive now has to nurse off a cat.

Halo Animal Rescue takes in dogs and cats of all ages but one that came in recently shocked everybody who works there.

In her 15 years of saving animals Heather Allen says she has never seen something like this before. She says, "It's pretty comical, even for us who have been around forever, we just keep looking with amazement."
A week ago Allen was left with quite the life-saving challenge. He was a 1-hour-old Chihuahua that lost its mom while giving birth. Heather tells 3TV, "I called Animal Control and I said ‘What do you have for me that's nursing’?"
The best Animal Control had was a black cat with four babies roughly the same size as the baby Chihuahua.

Heather says, "I asked a couple of vets and one was like, ‘Oh, I don't know about that’ and the other one was like, ‘Oh I think that's ok"

Knowing that without a mom the baby Chihuahua did not have long to live, Heather introduced the two. She says, "I just kind of just stuck the puppy in with the rest and hoped the mom wouldn't notice much and she thought that was fine."

Seven days later the baby Chihuahua, now named Liam, is still alive. Heather says, "She's doing great, I don't know if she'll be litter-trained when she's done, but she's doing really well, she's nursing and seems to be growing and doing great."

Liam may have gained a couple of extra lives now that she is nursing from a cat but Heather says she is not free and clear yet.

She is very young and things could still turn for the worse. "I hold my breath every morning and look in there and she's doing fantastic." She adds, "We're just really happy that she's willing to be such a good mom.

Liam and the mother cat are both up for adoption. Of course this will not be able to happen for a few weeks until the nursing is over and the Chihuahua is old enough to be adopted so if you are interested, you just have to be patient.

http://www.azfamily.com/news/local/Cat-at-shelter-nursing-baby-chihuahua-after-mom-dies--63209552.html

(Submitted by Sally Tully-Figueroa)

Cat at shelter nursing baby chihuahua after mom dies

by Ryan O'Donnell / 3TV
October 1, 2009

PHOENIX - A baby Chihuahua was left without a mother and in order to survive now has to nurse off a cat.

Halo Animal Rescue takes in dogs and cats of all ages but one that came in recently shocked everybody who works there.

In her 15 years of saving animals Heather Allen says she has never seen something like this before. She says, "It's pretty comical, even for us who have been around forever, we just keep looking with amazement."
A week ago Allen was left with quite the life-saving challenge. He was a 1-hour-old Chihuahua that lost its mom while giving birth. Heather tells 3TV, "I called Animal Control and I said ‘What do you have for me that's nursing’?"
The best Animal Control had was a black cat with four babies roughly the same size as the baby Chihuahua.

Heather says, "I asked a couple of vets and one was like, ‘Oh, I don't know about that’ and the other one was like, ‘Oh I think that's ok"

Knowing that without a mom the baby Chihuahua did not have long to live, Heather introduced the two. She says, "I just kind of just stuck the puppy in with the rest and hoped the mom wouldn't notice much and she thought that was fine."

Seven days later the baby Chihuahua, now named Liam, is still alive. Heather says, "She's doing great, I don't know if she'll be litter-trained when she's done, but she's doing really well, she's nursing and seems to be growing and doing great."

Liam may have gained a couple of extra lives now that she is nursing from a cat but Heather says she is not free and clear yet.

She is very young and things could still turn for the worse. "I hold my breath every morning and look in there and she's doing fantastic." She adds, "We're just really happy that she's willing to be such a good mom.

Liam and the mother cat are both up for adoption. Of course this will not be able to happen for a few weeks until the nursing is over and the Chihuahua is old enough to be adopted so if you are interested, you just have to be patient.

http://www.azfamily.com/news/local/Cat-at-shelter-nursing-baby-chihuahua-after-mom-dies--63209552.html

(Submitted by Sally Tully-Figueroa)