Mans' best friend becomes surrogate to abandoned baby tigers

A dog in northern Germany is once again taking on the role of surrogate parent to a big cat, this time helping to rear a pair of rejected Bengal tiger cubs.

Leon, a 6-year-old pointer mix, is helping his owner, zoo keeper Jeannette Wurms, raise 1-month old Peach and Pearl at home after the cubs were rejected by their mother at Safaripark Stukenbrock near the town of Schloss Holte-Stukenbrock.

"What's exceptional about (Leon) is that he is a male with such motherly instincts which are very marked," Wurms, who hand feeds the cubs, said on Monday.