Two Siberian tiger cubs were abandoned by their mother in Russia, so a kindhearted shar-pei dog named Cleopatra stepped into the picture to be their new mother.
The cubs were born in a zoo in the Oktyabrsky health resort in Sochi, Russia. Viktoria Kudlayeva, the assistant director of the zoo claims the dog was maternal toward the cubs from the start.
In an interview, Kudlayeva says, “She accepted them right away. She’s cleaning them and breast-feeding them as if they were her own. And they also sleep together.”
The tiger cubs are also being fed goat’s milk. They have been named Clyopa and Plyusha.
Kudlayeva says the cubs do not pose a threat to the dog even though they have claws. The cubs depend on her for food, and they aren’t showing any aggressive behavior toward the dog.
There are less than 400 Siberian tigers in the wild. Most of them live in Russia’s Far East.