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In Sochi, Swiss shepherd Tally nurses three tiger kittens abandoned by their mother.
Mikhail Mordasov
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The kittens were born in the Oktyabraskya zoo sanctuary to parents Bagheera and Batyr.
Mikhail Mordasov
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For some reason, the mother refused to feed the kittens. So zoo staff appealed to the public on the Internet: zoo seeks surrogate mother for tiger kittens.
Mikhail Mordasov
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The owner of a white Swiss shepherd named Tally responded. At the time, Tally was also expecting.
Mikhail Mordasov
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To feed the tiger kittens, Tally was brought specially all the way from Yeysk. This small port town is located 550 kilometers (342 miles) from Sochi, Russia's most famous Black Sea resort.
Mikhail Mordasov
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The journey to the 2014 Olympic city took the pregnant Tally and her owner almost the whole night.
Mikhail Mordasov
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They made the tough trip by train, with a change in Krasnodar.
Mikhail Mordasov
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A week after arriving in Sochi, Tally gave birth to her own puppies, which are now growing up with the tiger kittens.
Mikhail Mordasov
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As a result, she now has nine puppies and three foster kittens.
Mikhail Mordasov
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All the animals live inside an ordinary apartment owned by vet Natalia Stepanova in makeshift enclosures.
Mikhail Mordasov
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The kittens and puppies are one big, happy family. They eat at the same time, sleep side by side, and play together.
Mikhail Mordasov
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If there's not enough dog milk to go round, the tiger kittens are hand-fed goat milk.
Mikhail Mordasov
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The kittens already have names: the boys are called Olympic and Boss, and the girl is named after her stepmother, Tally.
Mikhail Mordasov
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Vets believe it could be good for the tiger kittens to be brought up by a dog and a human being. These natural predators will get used to people from birth.
Mikhail Mordasov
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When they grow up and start walking, they will be given to the Moscow Circus.
Mikhail Mordasov
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Incidentally, six months previously, their mother, Bagheera, had rejected two other offspring. They were brought up by a Shar-Pei called Cleopatra.
Mikhail Mordasov
