Rejected Red Panda Adopted By Cat 
AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - A newborn red panda rejected by its mother in Amsterdam’s Artis zoo has been adopted by a domestic cat, the zoo said on Friday.
The cat is nursing the red panda, currently about the size of a kitten, along with her own four kittens, the zoo said.
The red panda was born on June 30 and rejected by its mother soon afterwards.
Red pandas look like raccoons and when fully grown are slightly larger than a domestic cat — substantially smaller than the black and white giant panda.
“They are skilful climbers that, when not foraging on the ground, spend most of their time in the trees curled up with their long, bushy tails wrapped around their heads,” the World Wildlife Fund conservation charity said on its website.
(Reporting by Niclas Mika; editing by Philippa Fletcher)
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4 Comments on “Rejected Red Panda Adopted By Cat”
I am sorry to tell you that the panda is no more.
It has drowned itself, its lungs were filled with milk.
The article in Dutch:
http://www.nu.nl/news/1663435/10/rss/Panda_in_Artis_overleden_na_verslikking_in_kattenmelk.html
yeah and what happens when the panda cub becomes much much MUCH bigger than the cat? what then?
aaaw! so cute! Two thumbs up for real animal compassion.
First Posted 22:03:00 07/18/2008
THE HAGUE — A baby panda adopted by a domestic cat at Amsterdam’s Artis zoo has died after choking on the milk of its foster mother, the zoo said Friday.
“The little one was discovered lifeless on Thursday morning,” it said in a statement.
“A post-mortem revealed that its windpipe was filled with milk. It had choked to death.”
The red panda cub was born on June 30, but was rejected by its own mother along with a sibling who died soon thereafter.
It was adopted by a zoo employee’s pet cat who suckled the newborn with its own four kittens.
“The cat had just had kittens and accepted the baby panda as a foster child,” said the zoo statement.
“As far as we know, this was the first time that a cat has adopted a baby panda.”
Red pandas, which are only slightly larger than domestic cats, are an endangered species found mostly in the eastern Himalayas. Many zoos worldwide have breeding programs as only about 2,500 red pandas remain in the wild today.
Source > http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/world/view/20080718-149326/Baby-panda-adopted-by-house-cat-dies