Size and species don’t seem to matter when it comes to motherly instinct. A dog suckling a four-month-old calf has left Bore Gowda and Gayathri, a farming couple from Albooru village near Tiptur, wonder-struck.
When the couple’s cow died leaving behind its little calf last April, the couple were worried. They were feeding the calf with milk from another cow along with supplements like readymade fodder. Meanwhile, their dog littered three pups which the villagers took away to raise them as pets. The dog, which was now deprived of its young ones, regularly visited the cowshed where the calf stayed. The farmer kept an eye on it for some days and found that the dog was felt perfectly at ease suckling the orphaned calf.
This has now become a daily routine and the calf has been growing healthy, informed Bore Gowda. “We are now adding more supplements along with the food to our loving dog,” claimed the proud farmer.
Veterinarian Prayag, who has studied raising off springs of wild animals observed this phenomenon is common in the animal world. “Since the pups were weaned away from the mother, it needed to be relieved of the milk as retaining it in the udder for a long time is painful,” he said.