A Dutch house cat is helping raise the red panda. A nursing tabby cat has adopted a red panda cub abandoned by its mother. The Artis zoo in Amsterdam says the panda's mother rejected her two cubs after their birth. They were initially placed in an incubator.
But a zoo keeper's tabby cat with four kittens let the two panda cubs join the crowd. Sadly, one of the cubs was too weak and did not survive but the other is doing well.
A zoo spokesman says the cub will drink milk for about three months, after which she can start eating bamboo and fruit. The zoo says anyone willing to sponsor her will be allowed to name her.
The red panda is an endangered species that lives in China, Bhutan, Nepal, India, and Burma. It has a striped tail like a raccoon and is only distantly related to the giant panda.
