Is it true that a popular photograph depicts a tigress “adopting” piglets to replace dead tiger cubs?

This is not the first year that social networks have been captivated by a series of photographs in which a tigress is surrounded by piglets in striped blankets. We checked whether this tigress's heartbreaking story is true.

Usually photographs are accompanied by text that is identical down to the details and translation: “The female tigress lost her cubs as a result of premature birth. Soon after, her health deteriorated and she was diagnosed with depression. So the keepers wrapped the piglets in tiger cloth and gave them to the mother tigress. Now she loves these pigs and treats them like her children.”

The series of photographs gained particular popularity on Facebook, where it first captivated English-speaking users (you can find publications from December 2012 with 15,000, 16,000 and even 283,000 reposts), and then the Russian-language segment (publications from 2018–2021 with 900, 1400 And 1700 reposts). In the summer of 2022, this story resonated among Spanish-speaking users (5500 And 6000 reposts as of the end of June).

Some publications named Thailand as the setting for this touching incident. And indeed, it turns out that the pictures were taken back in 2004 at the Sriracha Tiger Zoo in the Thai province of Chonburi. In the most popular of the pictures you can see date shooting - January 23. A few more shots in which the piglets are already wearing red bows, appeared November 18 of the same year. But a photograph of a fat tiger (or tigress) has long been meme and has nothing to do with the Thai zoo.

This zoo has become widely famous abroad - primarily for its original entertainment and shows, which were reminiscent of some of the performances of the famous Barnum Circus. The publication devoted its article to one of these experiments. Pattaya Mail: “Visitors recently witnessed strange feeding behavior among the zoo's most famous residents. A two-year-old pig named Benjamai... has taken four tiger cubs under her wing and is feeding them, along with three tiny piglets, as if she were their mother. She loves these cats, and they love her back.

Not believing their eyes, the tourists pressed themselves against the cage to get a better look at everything. When they approached the next cage, another surprise awaited them: there lay a huge Royal Bengal tigress on her side, nursing six tiny piglets.

Mother tigress Saimai is two years old and was fed by a pig until she was four months old. This democratic upbringing allowed her to develop loving relationships with other pigs and even with a dog. In the wild, perhaps this would be her food, but in the zoo, tourists who witness these amazing scenes leave with food for thought.”

The local community also spoke about this unusual symbiosis. TV, and zoo workers in 2009 told a correspondent Reuters, that the experiment was carried out with the aim of accustoming predators and their potential prey to each other and making tigers less aggressive. Thus, the depression of the tigress who lost her children is a fictitious detail that appeared no later than 2006, when the plot was already active broke up via the Internet.

Unfortunately, the Sri Racha Zoo, run by Buddhist monks, has been making headlines for more than just fun reasons. Over the years he featured in complaints about cruelty or improper treatment of animals, and during the bird flu epidemic, about 100 animals died or were killed here. However, the real scourge has become the local practice of commercial breeding of tigers for sale, caused by special demand in China, where individual body parts of these cats are valued. In 2019, after another discovery, consisting of 1,600 pieces of tigers and several dozen more frozen cubs, the zoo, which, on top of that, did not have a license, closed. Nevertheless, one touching story from his bright past continues to conquer the world.

Cover image: Wikipedia

Half-truth

What do our verdicts mean?

Read on topic:

1. Do These Photographs Show a Tiger Nursing Piglets?
2. Fact check: A female tiger did not adopt a group of piglets after losing her cubs.