A local farmer's dog becomes wet nurse to two newborn red pandas at a Chinese Zoo. (AP)
When a female red panda at a zoo in northern China gave birth to two babies, zookeepers were thrilled -- and shocked.
"No one knew she was pregnant. Her plump body and bushy hair disguised her protruding belly until the babies were born," a spokesperson for the Taiyuan Zoo in Shanxi Province told Xinhua News Agency.
The humiliation of "giving birth in its pen, in broad daylight and in front of a huge crowd of visitors," was apparently too much for the new mother, who had recently arrived from a nature reserve. "It abruptly turned its back on the babies and refused to nurse them," said the spokesperson.
Zookeepers scrambled to find a wet nurse for the pair of baby red pandas. They scoured the land and found three dogs who had recently given birth. The mama dog chosen for the job belongs to a local farmer. She is a sweet-tempered, white Chihuahua-looking pooch who had given birth to a puppy just three days before the red pandas were born on June 25.
Unfortunately, the mama dog seems to have taken her job way too seriously --- to the detriment of her own puppy! "The mother dog thinks the two bears are its own babies and refuses to nurse the pup," said the zoo spokesman, who's been feeding the puppy milk and yolk.
(No word whether the zoo tried to give the pup to the female red panda to nurse.)
Red pandas are an endangered species with fewer than 2,500 adult red pandas in the world, reports the Associated Press.
Comments
utterly inhumane and disgraceful- this is a shocking tale of animal cruelty and the red panda cubs and the dog could have serious repurcutions. The red panda's could be serisoulsy harmed via gentic mutation as they are not engineered to extract nutrients from dogs milk. There are specific nutrients and bacteria found exclusively in Red Panda Milk which are required for the cub's growth and health. Those zookeepers are an utter disgrace and the red panda's are doomed to deatg.
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