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19 March 2024

Dog becomes surrogate mother to tiger cubs

Published
By Bang

A dog and his keeper have adopted baby tiger cubs who were rejected by their mother.

The pet pooch called Leon - owned by zoo keeper Jeannette Waurns - is helping to rear the one-month-old cubs called Peach and Pearl in their living room of Stukenbrock Safari Park in Germany after they were immediately rejected by their mother at birth.

Jeannette told AOL Travel News: "Leon quickly adopted the role of surrogate mother, acting as educator and entertainer."

However, Jeannette isn't planning to keep the cubs once they can fend for themselves because they "are not pets, but animals of prey."

The zoo keeper also revealed that once the cubs get bigger, she will caress the twins through bars as they can react unexpectedly and could turn violent, but insisted it still allows close contact without endangering lives.