I just read a story about a yellow lab raising 3 white tiger cubs as her own.

Question

this happened after the birth mother to the cubs stopped caring for the cubs a day after birth.my question is this.as the cubs grow older and larger,large enough to prey upon the dog,will they still look at her as their mother or as a possible food source???my thought is that they will become accustomed to her smell and equate her smell with being their mother.please tell me your thoughts on this and if you know of any previous examples of this happening and what happened later as they aged.

Answer 1

They'll never see her as a food source.  A friend of my family raises tigers, and she usually gets rescues from foreign zoos that are shut down.  She keeps a rescued dog with every single tiger cub (one dog and one cub per cage) to give them something to cuddle up to, it serves the psychological need of having the mother.  These dogs are usually medium sized muts and within a year the tiger is 7-8 feet long and 4 feet tall.  The tigers still love that little dog, and the dog still disciplines the tiger.  When the tiger plays too rough the dog snaps at it and the HUGE tiger backs down like it's still a baby.  It's really neat.  

Answer 2

They will still view her as mom, but they will be a lot bigger and stronger than her, and would most likely injure the dog while playing, ever though they don't meant to.

Most likely when the cub are old enough to eat meat they'll leave their mom and be given to a zoo or sanctuary.

http://www.safaripark.org/

http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/p...

http://www.livescience.com/animals/07051...

http://www.amny.com/ny-0jm1yjys200707310...

http://kdka.com/pittsburghzoo/cub.tiger....

http://www.imedinews.ge/en/news_read/181...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment...

http://www.dogsinthenews.com/issues/0208...