Mother of the Year Back to Pets / Back Home
Thanks to Mary Lou for sending this one!
In a zoo in California, a mother tiger gave birth to a rare set of triplet tiger
cubs. Unfortunately,
due to complications in the pregnancy, the cubs were born prematurely and due to
their tiny
size, they died shortly after birth.
The mother tiger after recovering from the delivery, suddenly started to decline
in health,
although physically she was fine. The veterinarians felt that the loss of her
litter had caused
the tigress to fall into a depression. The doctors decided that if the tigress
could surrogate
another mother's cubs, perhaps she would improve.
After checking with many other zoos across the country, the depressing news was
that there
were no tiger cubs of the right age to introduce to the mourning mother. The
veterinarians
decided to try something that had never been tried in a zoo environment.
Sometimes a mother
of one species will take on the care of a different species. The only orphans"
that could be
found quickly, were a litter of weanling pigs. The zoo keepers and vets wrapped
the piglets in
tiger skin and placed the babies around the mother tiger. Would they become cubs
or pork chops?
Take a look...you won't believe your eyes!!
