Got Milk

Grouch · Kickflip Joined: 16 Feb 2004 Posts: 3146 City: The OC

Woman Breastfeeds Endangered Tiger Cubs

Three tiger cubs were born from a pair of tigers that came from a zoo in Thailand. But the mother refused to nurse her young and ate one of her babies. Veterinarians rescued the remaining two and tried to feed them milk from a bottle, but without much success.

"They (cubs) find some difficulties in sucking the nipple on the bottle, but when we tried to get the cubs to suck a lady's breast, it was all right," said a Yangon Zoo veterinarian.

So Hla Htay, 40, a mother of three, began feeding the cubs. The process takes about 45 minutes, she said.

"It's not scary at all," she said. "I thought I needed to do something for the cubs because I felt really sorry for them."

The cubs seem to have forgotten their real tiger mother and believe that Hla Htay is their mother now.

"The cubs are just like my babies," added Hla Htay.

The zoo says the arrangement will continue until the end of April.

The cubs will have to go back to the bottle when they grow too strong and start to teethe.

The Bengal tiger is listed as endangered on the World Conservation Union's red list, with the global population estimated at fewer than 2,500.