Dog nurses Red Pandas in China

[Guest guest]

At one point of time, Kolkata Zoo had Red Pandas. Apparently, there was also

a Red Panda in Ahmedabad. They were, of course, Nehru's favourite pets. I

spent a lot of time filming them in Darjeeling Zoo. A couple of them, called

Minnie and Sweety were released from Darjeeling Zoo to the wild, in a step

that I consider to be one of the most significant conservation contributions

of an Indian zoo ever.

Beautiful picture here :

http://news./s/ap/20090716/ap_on_re_as/as_china_pand

Dog wet nurse saves panda cubs in China

 

Thu Jul 16, 6:01 am ET

 

BEIJING – Two red panda cubs abandoned by their mother at birth are thriving

at a northern China zoo thanks to milk and loving care from an

unlikely surrogate

mother — a dog, state media reported on Thursday.

 

The cubs, born June 25, were abandoned immediately by their mother after giving

birth in front of a crowd of visitors at the Taiyuan Zoo in northern China's

Shanxi province, according to Ha Guojiang, a zoo employee quoted by the

official Xinhua News Agency.

 

" No one knew she was pregnant. Her plump body and bushy hair disguised her

protruding belly until the babies were born, " said Ha. " We hurriedly went

about to find a wet nurse for them. "

 

Telephone calls to the Taiyuan zoo rang unanswered on Thursday.

 

The dog wet nurse, belonging to a farmer from a nearby suburb, was selected

from two other candidates that had recently given birth. The dog is now

raising the two panda cubs like its own pups, sometimes even refusing to

feed its own pup, said Ha, cited by Xinhua.

 

At 3-weeks-old, the baby cubs have yet to open their eyes and have doubled

in length to 20 centimeters (8 inches), Xinhua reported.

 

Unlike the more well-known, bear-like giant pandas, red pandas resemble

raccoons with long bushy tails. There are believed to be fewer than 2,500

adult red pandas in the world.