Dog adopts newborn lion cub as her own
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Alyona Topolyanskaya
Orphaned big cat saved by a hound in Krasnoyarsk.
A big-hearted dog, and her human owners, have adopted an unlikely new puppy from Krasnoyarsk Zoo - after keepers appealed for a home for an orphaned lion cub.
The baby big cat's mother, named Chudo (Wonder), died while giving birth to four cubs, only one of which survived.
In desperate bid to save the little lion, zoo keepers quickly spread the word that they were looking for a big, sweet tempered dog that recently had puppies.
"When we heard about this," dog owner, Petr Ryzhakov told RIA Novosti, "we knew right away that our Zhulya was the perfect candidate."
Margarita Shushakova, head of the zoo's mammals department, admitted that losing the mother and three cubs was a big loss - but hopes to save the last lion.
"We didn't believe that we could save the remaining cub," Shushakova said.
As for the surrogate mum, like most dogs she was more concerned about the smell of her new child.
"We wrapped Chudo up in the cloth belong to the potential mother dog, so that the scents are similar," said the zoo keepers.
Now, the little cub has two little canine brothers, and there is plenty of milk for everyone. However, once Chudo gets her baby teeth, she will be put on a diet of minced meat and goat milk.
Zoo keepers say that animals that have been nursed and raised by dogs are friendlier, and are less afraid of people.
When they get older, they are more likely to be taken in by zoos and circuses, as they are easier to train.
Dogs have very strong maternal instincts so it's becoming more and more common to use them as surrogate mums.
Last year, at the Taiyuan Zoo in China, a dog was brought in to help nurse newborn Red Panda cups, whose mother abandoned them shortly after their birth.
And in 2008, a golden retriever became a surrogate mother to three newborn tiger cubs, at the Kansas Safari Zoological Park in the United States, after the tigress proved to be "too sassy to be the maternal type" said the zoo keepers.