Wildlife park seeks surrogate dogs

Wildlife park seeks surrogate dogs

• Source: Global Times
• [08:21 March 16 2011]
• Comments

A black leopard cub at the Beijing Badaling Wild Animal Park Monday is currently being nursed by a surrogate mother dog. Photo: Ouyang Xiaofei

By Xu Tianran

The Beijing Badaling Wild Animal Park is recruiting female dogs to nurse a black leopard cub and four wolf pups whose mothers refuse to feed them.

The leopard cub was born on March 9, and three days later a wolf gave birth to four pups.

According to Wang Jianping, a park keeper, the two new mothers both refused to feed their offspring, in spite of persistent attempts by the cub and pups to latch on and nurse.

"We don't dare to go inside the cages to help," Wang said. "They are dangerous animals."

Instead, he explained, they utilized special gates that enabled them to lure the mothers into a separate space, and are already tending to the rejected offspring.

According to Wang and Fan Jinsong, the park's marketing director, the two mothers are refusing to feed their babies out of a lack of experience.

Xie Yan, a tiger researcher with the Institute of Zoology at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, was able to elaborate a little more thoroughly.

"In the wild, tigers will abandon their children in exceptional cases, and the chance is bigger when they are in captivity," Xie said.

He added that he assumed the problem for the park's new mothers might be related to a lack of space where the animals can exercise.

A mother dog kept as a pet by a park employee was brought in to nurse the leopard cub, but after the birth and rejection of the wolf pups, milk supply has become a problem.

"One dog cannot feed that many cubs and pups," Wang said, adding that milk from a live animal is better for the fragile digestion systems of the newborns.

"The cub and pups will keep the nipple in their mouth and suck it from time to time. If you use a bottle you cannot keep the milk fresh and it might go bad," he explained.