Six little pigs find new mum - a bulldog
A French bulldog has adopted a newborn litter of six German wild boars after they were found cold and starving in the woods, their mother possibly killed by hunters.
The eight-year-old dog, called Baby, lives as a pet at the Lehnitz animal sanctuary in Brandenburg. She pricked up her ears when the six little pigs were brought in – she has previously adopted kittens, rabbits and even a raccoon, sanctuary worker Norbert Damm told The Local.
“We don’t know what happened to the mother boar, whether she was hunted or what,” he said. “But someone found the little pigs and brought them to us on Saturday. They were only four days old as far as we can tell. You can hold one in your hand, although they are a little bit bigger than a hand.”
Click here for a photo gallery of Baby with her babies
“Baby went straight to them; she has an amazing mothering instinct. She has adopted cats, rabbits and a raccoon in the past.”
He said the piglets were still very weak and spent most of the time snuggled up next to the dog, sleeping.
The dog cannot feed the pigs, which are being bottle-fed with special piglet milk enriched with fats every three hours or so by the sanctuary workers.
The new patchwork family will be allowed the run of the animal sanctuary for about three months, after which the piglets will be released into a patch of protected woodland owned by a boar-friendly associate of the sanctuary.
“They will be about as big as Baby when they are released,” said Damm.
The Local/hc
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The eight-year-old dog, called Baby, lives as a pet at the Lehnitz animal sanctuary in Brandenburg. She pricked up her ears when the six little pigs were brought in – she has previously adopted kittens, rabbits and even a raccoon, sanctuary worker Norbert Damm told The Local.
“We don’t know what happened to the mother boar, whether she was hunted or what,” he said. “But someone found the little pigs and brought them to us on Saturday. They were only four days old as far as we can tell. You can hold one in your hand, although they are a little bit bigger than a hand.”
Click here for a photo gallery of Baby with her babies
“Baby went straight to them; she has an amazing mothering instinct. She has adopted cats, rabbits and a raccoon in the past.”
He said the piglets were still very weak and spent most of the time snuggled up next to the dog, sleeping.
The dog cannot feed the pigs, which are being bottle-fed with special piglet milk enriched with fats every three hours or so by the sanctuary workers.
The new patchwork family will be allowed the run of the animal sanctuary for about three months, after which the piglets will be released into a patch of protected woodland owned by a boar-friendly associate of the sanctuary.
“They will be about as big as Baby when they are released,” said Damm.
The Local/hc
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