Evening Republican, Volume 16, Number 26, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 January 1912 — DOG TO MOTHER CUB BEARS [ARTICLE]

DOG TO MOTHER CUB BEARS

London Zoological Gardens to Try Experiment In Rearing Polar Bears, London. Some - young polar bears, whose arrival is being awaited at the London Zoological gardens, are to be mothered —by a dog! Hitherto all the polar bears born to Barbara, who is now collecting bits of straw and making a (nest, have died. A great effort is, therefore, to a be made to rear the polar bear babies, which, if they live, will be the first educated in captivity. The new treatment of the polar babies will be a daring experiment. A few hours after birth the cubs will be removed from the mother and taken to the sanitorium in the zoo, where a dog—probably a boarhound —will be intrusted with the duties of foster mother. Under the care’of Dr. P. Chalmers Mitchell and experienced veterinary surgeons every attention and luxury will be given to the young bears, and their progress watched dally. Barbara has a sad record as a mother. Last year two of her cubs died, probably because she used to take one out for an airing in inclement weather. Sam, the father polar bear, takes little interest in his children, except that he imagines they are dainty morsel* to eat He is, therefore, separated from the nursery. In the reptile house five eggs of a South African egg-eating snake are expected shortly to hatch in warm sand. Only one egg, it is feared, will be successful.