On the heartwarming scale this rates as a positive
scorcher.
A forlorn tigress, heartbroken because her own cubs have died, is
fooled into adopting a litter of piglets when zoo officials in
California wrap them in tiger skins.
Such a thing had never been tried before, according to the email
which accompanied these pictures as they were sent around the
world.
Unfortunately, there was a twist in the tiger's tale.
High on the hog: Five piglets in their
tiger-skin coats doze peacefully across their surrogate mother at
the zoo in Thailand. The tigress suckled and cared for the
brood
Though the pictures have not been faked, an animal welfare pressure
group investigated and discovered they were actually taken at a zoo
in Thailand.
The Sriracha Tiger Zoo, an hour's drive from Bangkok, has been
accused of causing its exhibits unnecessary suffering, and of using
stunts to gain publicity.
These pictures must have been part of such a set-up, say experts,
because it was unnecessary to wrap the piglets in their cute little
tiger-skin coats.
It is apparently common practice in Thailand for tigers to suckle
pigs, and for pigs to adopt orphaned cubs.
Pork scratching: A persistent piglet nuzzles up
to the tigress as it tries to sleep
The tigress in these pictures was herself brought up by a sow, and
sees pigs as family.
Though she had been given these babies to bring up, it is unclear
whether she had lost a litter of her own, as the story
claimed.
In another twist, the zoo has been investigated for allegedly
breeding tigers for export to China - where tiger parts command
high prices for use in traditional medicines.
Sommai Temsiripong, one of the zoo's owners, was charged with
breeding tigers without a licence. On another occasion 23 tigers
died of bird flu after being fed infected raw chickens.
Critics say that behind the scenes tigers are bred in poor
conditions and the the London Zoological Society has been critical
of Sriracha's animal husbandry.
Piggy in the middle: One baby takes
cover
Adam Roberts, an investigator with Animal Welfare International,
the respected American pressure group which investigated the
pictures, wrote in its quarterly magazine that the zoo - with more
than 400 tigers, a handful of Asian elephants, of crocodiles,
camels, snakes and other exotic animals - had many troubling
exhibits.
It also houses a circus, he said, where he saw tigers leaping
through rings of fire, walking across a double tightrope, parading
around the ring on hind legs, and riding on the back of a
horse.
"Up close, however, one could clearly see the animals' debilitation
and fear," he added.
"All of the animals awaited their turn to perform in a gated
tunnel, keepers constantly poking them with a steel pole through
the iron mesh."
Behind the scenes, bored elephants swayed at the end of 2ftlong
chains anchored to the ground.
One had a long, deep scar across his ear - another was scarred
across her trunk.
"After the show, the elephants stood in frot of the seats taking
money from people with their trunks and passing it to the trainers
astride their backs," Mr Roberts reported.
The zoo denies any wrongdoing.
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