By Ian Simple
Call it a touching act of altruism or a curious assertion of maternal capability, but the bottom line is 40-year-old Hla Htay is breastfeeding a Bengal tiger cub.
Two cubs, a male and a female, were taken from their mother at Yangon Zoological Gardens in Burma after she killed the third in her litter. The two are now being raised on bottled milk as well as Hla Htay’s milk four times a day.
Ms Htay, the partner of an employee at the zoo, told local newspapers this week she felt sorry for the animals and offered her services, at least until the cubs grew teeth.
If Ms Htay sticks to her offer of only breastfeeding until the cubs grow teeth, she won’t be at it long. Tiger cubs grow teeth within weeks of being born, says Taina Strike, a vet at the Zoological Society of London.
‘I still feel sorry for the woman though. Their sharp claws will be pummelling her‘.
As to why Ms Htay has offered her services, when bottled milk could do just as well? ‘I don’t even want to go there’, says Strike.
Culled from The Guardian UK
1 comment
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