Dog Nursing Piglets

This article caught my eye in the paper the other day of a dog named, Yeti, nursing adopted piglets in Camaguey, Cuba.  Yeti the dog already had a litter of pups to care for when the piglets adopted her as a second mom.

Ever since then, the Cuban farm dog has been pulling double duty, nursing not just her own young but also the 14 swine.

Farmer Mannorkys Santamaria said the piglets also take milk from their mothers, but when they see Yeti, they run to her for a meal.  On a recent day the young porkers followed her around the farm as if she were their real mother.

"No one imposed this on the dog," Santamaria said.  "The piglets discovered this on their own and began nursing with her when they turned 15 days old."

Santamaria, 35, and his wife, Eida Fermandes, 40, raise pigs, chickens, doves and turkeys on their small farm in the eastern province of Camaguey.

All but one of Yeti's biological offspring have been given away, and the one pup remaining nurses alongside the swine.