Golden Retriever adopts three white Bengal tiger pups: 'She automatically just let them nurse...'

A heartwarming story of a golden retriever dog nursing three white tiger cubs, recently caught the attention of countless internet users. As reported by Today, the tiger puppies were nurtured by the dog, Isabella, in the rural Kansas zoo in Safari Zoological Park. The big cats were neglected by their real mother just one night after giving birth, when Isabella came forward to naturally embrace them and become their surrogate mother. According to a Vimeo clip, Tom Harvey, director of the zoological park, shared how Isabella "automatically started mothering them." He states how they just placed the pups in position, and she immediately started nursing them. 

He further shares how the real mother had never taken responsibility for the cubs and had abandoned them after giving birth, merely after 15 hours. "The mother was a rescue cat that we brought in from Indiana, and she just doesn't seem to get it. Some mothers just don't do it, it doesn't have anything to do with their surroundings." He talks about how the staff decided to pull the babies when they noticed the mother completely neglecting them and how they had bottle-fed some of these babies in the past, but this time around, they had the "opportunity to give them some good natural food." He also mentions what an incredible mother Isabella was to these abandoned white tiger pups, stating, "There was no difference if we were putting her puppies on, she automatically just let them nurse and then started cleaning them."

According to Today, the cubs have now outgrown their mom in size, weighing close to 140 pounds. While the 'tiger teens,' as Harvey refers to them, are still playful around Isabella, they are too big to be left unsupervised. Harvey also shared that the beautiful bond that has been created between the animals, and even Isabella's puppy, Sandy, whom the tigers consider their sister. “They love to play with Sandy the puppy more than they do Isabella. Izzy just kind of supervises everything.” 

While this unique bond between Isabella and the three Bengal tiger pups, Nasira, Anjika, and Sidani, seems odd, it was not the first time such a connection has happened and is actually seen quite often. As reported by Rover, Psychologist Dr. Stanley Coren shares the possible reason behind this kind of nurturing by dogs, stating, "All mammals have certain pheromones—simply biological scents—they give off, and they have a certain communication value. Pheromones indicate if an animal is young, and often we find female dogs respond to that and start to mother these animals very much as if they were their own pups." Harvey also shared with Today how the white tiger pups, along with the golden retriever, unknowingly saved their zoo from closing. As gas prices rose and the economy was also tightening, visitor numbers had dropped to an all-time low. The sanctuary was struggling and deciding to shut down when these beautiful animals saved them by increasing their popularity, thus turning a nearly forgotten facility into an attractive destination.