ABANDONED LION CUB STRUGGLING TO LIVE LATER GETS THE MOST UNEXPECTED SURROGATE MOTHER

 

Often addressed as the “King Of The Jungle”, Lions are majestic animals. Their fierceness, strength, courage, and power are what they are known for. Their mere sight gives us the feel of royalty. But ever heard how different these species are when it comes to their pride, territory and their young ones?

This story is of a lion cub from a zoo in Poland. Until he was born, the lioness was a protective one who loved and nurtured him. However, things took a steep turn only after a few weeks of this cub’s birth. At an early age itself, this cub who actually was a member of the majestic family tasted the bitter reality of his existence. This story evokes strong emotions of sympathy and compassion for the cub. How will the lion cub survive in this cruel world?

Your Majesty

Lions are one of the most distinct and amazing wild animals. Though they belong to the cat family, they are the ones whose roar can give you shivers down your spine. They are big cats with a heavy golden mane. While majorly they inhabit grasslands and savannah, these exotic species are even reserved in certain zoos and habitat centers.

A Little Different

Lions are ferocious creatures. They are wild beasts, who are hunters. And that’s what makes them the kings of the jungle. A lion is a totally different beast when it comes to their cubs. Though they are protective of them, not every time they are. And unfortunately, the cub from Poland was the one who wasn’t protected.

 Quite Strange

When everyone believes that be it a human or an animal, every female possess strong motherly instincts. But when the lion and lioness at the zoo did not show their love and interest in their cub, this came as a strange act to everyone including the zookeepers.

Part Of Pride

When it comes to lions, they are the ones to whom pride is everything. Being accepted as a member of pride is what lions crave for. Pride is often a group of lions where the main head- the leader is only changed when there is a birth or the death of a lion. With the birth of this cub in Poland, why didn’t things change?

The Cub

A baby cub was born to the family of the lion in a zoo from Poland. When every other lioness was extremely protective of their cubs to an extent that if anyone went past their newborns they would attack, this cub’s mother did not even bother about her own baby and with this things got tough for the baby lion.

Challenging

While for a few days the lioness could be seen around her cub, just after a week she completely abandoned him. She won’t look after him, cuddle him or provide him with warmth but would just go past him. At the stage when the cub was very young, life without a mother got challenging.

Need Of Love

The cub in the initial stage of life only felt short of love and care which he deserved from his parents. He was too young to be left to himself. His health became a major concern for zookeepers, but even bigger an issue was why did his parents leave him like that.

Pride Politics

It was often observed that some lionesses often left the pride to care for their cubs but this lioness left her cub to be a part of the pride. One can only assume that as majorly two lionesses in a pride give birth to cubs at the same time and in order to get the lead, a female might decide to leave the cub and join the pride which otherwise is done after the cub is about 6-8 weeks old.

Scared

The zookeepers were extremely worried about the cubs falling health. The baby needed nourishment. Life had just begun for him and those days were nothing but sheer struggle. At this stage, he couldn’t be fed meat either. Moreover, getting close to the cub got scary.

Fear Of Attack

At this early age, a cub might not attack but as it was their natural instinct the zookeepers weren’t sure how to reach out to this cub. They couldn’t either see the cub in hunger and being abandoned by his mother and nor could they easily go close to him. What will they do now?

Weird Idea

In order to ensure that this cub makes it to life, and is able to survive, the zookeepers came up with many ideas. They thought bottle-feeding might help, but the cub would never even touch it. He needed mother’s feed. Then they came up with a strange idea.

Might Work

The zookeepers understood that only a mother lioness could help this baby cub. But which lioness would feed any other cub than her own? The zookeepers kept their hopes high about another lioness feeding this young one.

A Concern

Unfortunately, in the zoo, there was no other nursing lioness who could be a second mother to this lion cub. The zoo authorities needed another idea to help this animal. And this idea was totally out of the box.

Maybe

The zoo had even inhabited a she-dog named Carmen. And luckily the dog recently only gave birth to a litter of puppies. The zookeepers came up with the idea that maybe this dog could help them with this lion cub. Maybe she could just feed him. Was this even possible?

Vague Thought

Even imagining a dog feeding a lion cub was itself a thought too good to be true. A dog family feeding a cat family? This was a very vague thought and an assumption too tough to happen. But the zookeepers were firm on giving it a try once.

Caring One

Carmen was a sheepdog-the breed which is known for being extra protective of their young ones. She was a caring and loving mother whose foremost priority was her newborns. This basic instinct of a sheepdog made zookeepers think that she would adopt the cub. Little did they know it wasn’t an easy one.

First Step

Carmen already had her many puppies to look after and none could guarantee if she would be up for feeding another being. Her paws were already full with her puppies. But without further delay, the zookeepers took the first step and it was a little dangerous.

Placing Him

The staff at the zoo placed the cub near to the sheepdog. It was a risky step that they were taking as none was sure of the dog’s reaction to this decision. They just hoped that this idea works and the little one gets a mother. But was he lucky enough to get one?

Not Mine

As the cub was placed next to puppies, Carmen could sense something was different. She came close to the cub and began to sniff him. And one knows, a dog can never be wrong with its sense of smell. Carmen soon realized that a look-alike of her puppies was not hers and in fact wasn’t even a puppy. What next?

Staying Away

Carmen got a little distant from this intruder. She did not know how to behave or react to this one. Poor cub, he was already devoid of his lioness mother and now even Carmen seemed to do the same. But with time, something unexpected happened.

A Surprise

After a week of staying in close proximity, Carmen developed an attachment with the cub. It came as a surprise to everyone that the dog who was always far from this cub was actually now licking and hugging him. Probably, the zookeepers prayers were answered. But does this mean that she will feed him as well?

Maternal Instinct

Everyone at the zoo drew a single conclusion that as the sheepdog recently delivered the puppies, her motherly instincts were still intact. Maybe finding the lion cub this calm near her, she began to care for him and look after him. The poor cub finally got a mother. But, there was something more to be looked after.

Siblings?

The staff was glad that the dog accepted the lion cub but there was still one major problem. Would the puppies accept and allow the lion cub near their mother? The puppies could gang up together and could also stop the cub from coming close to their mom.

Determined

Until now the zoo staff had kept the cub close to Carmen and not her pups. They decided to place the pups also with the cub and see the reaction. However, with Carmen’s acceptance of the lion cub, they were quite hopeful with the pups’ as well.

Voila

Thankfully, the pups also accepted the cub as a part of their family. As the cub was almost the same size as the pups his presence didn’t affect the puppies. Rather they all got along quite well. Well, this wasn’t the end yet.

A Brother

The cub was fortunately treated the way he deserved to be. The pups wholeheartedly accepted him and would treat him like an elder sibling. Not only this but the cub also started to feed at the same time as the pups. This was simply beautiful.

Well Done Carmen

Carmen really made everyone at the zoo proud. She turned out to be a true mother. She was more than happy to help the abandoned lion cub. Probably, even the cub was lucky to have a mother like her. She is living happily with her pups and new baby cub. Yet, there was another question.

A Question

Currently, the lion cub was in desperate need of nourishment so he gradually loved Carmen. But one can never ignore the question that once this cub grows into an adult lion, how will he react to Carmen? Will the king of the jungle even remember the sheepdog or would his wild instincts take over?

None Knows

Well, one can never predict the future, but all can do is hope that the lion cub would respect Carmen who had fed him and continues to love her throughout. However, up until now, the zookeepers were glad about the current situation as the cub finally got a loving family and was happy.

A Big Hug

The cub has accepted his new family and is very happy with them. And not only this, but he has even embraced them all in his little arms. He is doing well with his sibling puppies and a doggo mother, we hope that he continues to love them like this all his life.