Cute Red Panda Cubs Adopted By Dog In China (PHOTOS)

Two rare red pandas who were abandoned at birth have found a new mother - a small dog, reports The Sun.

The two cubs were born at Taiyuan Zoo in northern China and were abandoned immediately after their birth by their mother, who staff had not suspected was pregnant.

Zoo worker Ha Guojiang told Xinhua news agency that the stand-in mum is good-natured and has happily adopted the cubs.

The red panda species is under special protection in China, and are much smaller than the better known giant pandas, Xinhua reports.

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Comments

[munki]

If animals do care... see no differences...

We should not!!!

[tlgeiger62]

Very adorable. They have such long tails! Who knew!

[Bubba Gump]

Too cute!

[BannedInBoston]

Photo caption: "I'm happy but why do I feel so...drained?"

[QueenCeleste]

Let's hope the adorable, altruistic dog will not end up on a dinner table.

[don quixote12]

"The adoption has produced one sad twist: the mother dog has rejected her own puppy.

Mr Ha said: "The mother dog thinks the two bears are its own babies and refuses to nurse the pup." He is feeding it milk.(© The Times, London)""

http://www.independent.ie/world-news/asia-pacific/its-a-dogs-life-for-red-panda-cubs-as-they-meet-new-mum-1826324.html?r=RSS

[BannedInBoston]

Looks like there probably just isn't enough room for all of them!

[peacekitten]

if there is justice in the universe, that brave little pup will grow to be a loved and respected member of his mother's household as well. both of them have made the most loving sacrifice possible so these little pandas can live. they deserve only the best life. i'll keep my fingers crossed for him.

[BunnyMama]

I guess you've never been to a CHinese zoo. Let's just say I left in tears.

[dwright]

I would think that it would be easier to hand feed a puppy than a panda and since panda's are rare I would think that ultimately it is a good thing.

[zach4500]

Good. maybe they won't hang the dog upside down and slice it's belly open then let it slowly suffer while bleeding to death, like they do many dogs in China. Dog/cat = dinner.

[kittyonice]

This is not the first time I've seen cross-species suckling. I once saw a video of a cat in Australia who nursed an abandoned puppy (or was that a dog nursing an abandoned kitty? -- can't remember, but it was a similar story to this). This has been known to happen.

This is one good dog, that's for sure.

[nolabels]

I think you could have phrased that better. :-)

[cucumber]

humans may as well suckle cows when they drink milk. They remove baby calves from their mothers on the day of birth, at great p.ain and m.isery to both, so humans can get the milk.

[dwright]

and "veal"

[kareemachan]

Gee, my cousin's husband must have been doing it wrong all these years. I'll have to tell him to get rid of all those calves he has in with the moms.

[Tommygun264]

Okay, cuteness overload. Have you ever seen a dog with a happier expression?

[garystartswithg]

red pandas are so cute -- i would even nurse them if i could

[Dichotomy]

Okay, those are baby raccoons, are they not??

Since when do pandas have long tails??

Not that it takes away from the story...

[TLV]

Red pandas:

http://images.google.com/images?client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&hl=en&q=red+pandas&btnG=Search+Images&gbv=2&aq=f&oq=

[Dichotomy]

Thank you! Those look like red raccoons, lol! But even cuter~

[hilaritee]

nope, those are red pandas...that is what they look like.

[Tommygun264]

Go on YouTube and run a search for red pandas. They are not bears, very much like chubby raccoons. Way cute.

[nolabels]

We have one at the Bronx zoo and they seem to me to be one of the few animals that is even cuter as an adult.

[BannedInBoston]

There is hope for the world after all....

[peacekitten]

this is a very sweet story.

how much we could learn from the animals.......to give of ourselves without expecting anything in return.

what a wonderful dog. she's beautiful . i hope her adopted babies make it. and i hope she is given the respect she deserves for the rest of her life. she's very special.

[BannedInBoston]

I don't tear up over animals very often but the dog's happy expression (especially) when suckling the panda cubs really got me

[TLV]

Animals are so wonderfully good-hearted as long as no nasty human being screws them up, that is.

[QueenCeleste]

Me too, peacekitten. I just feel good looking at her smiling little face while nursing.

[peacechants]

This heartwarming story and accompanying pictures belie the realities of animal cruelty in China.

Prior to the Beijing Olympics, all dogs over a certain size were seized from their owners and beaten to death or electrocuted under official edicts declaring concerns about rabies or other public safety issues. All street dogs received similar treatment. Both dogs and cats are used for food in China. The typical manner of slaughtering the animals prior to their consumption by humans is by clubbing them to death. The fur from dogs and cats is used for trimming coats.
It is estimated that up to 10 million dogs are slaughtered every year in China, many deliberately slowly and cruelly in the belief that "torture equals taste", whilst all suffer the stress and pain of being farmed in concentrated numbers before being killed in a variety of ways which rarely ensures a quick and humane death.
PETA's offices have been inundated over the years with calls from people around the world who are outraged by China's dog "exterminations". Eyewitnesses have noted that many dogs have died slow, agonizing deaths in these mass slaughters, which illustrate the nation's lack of adequate animal control plans. PETA's offers to assist Chinese officials in implementing such plans - in order to avoid drastic, widespread killings - have not been accepted.

[Whitley2009]

By Gawd, that's news.