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China society
China

Chinese girl has pet tiger cub and takes it for walks on a leash

Nine-year-old zookeeper’s daughter befriends young cub and spends her free time playing with her unusual pet

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Sun Xiaojing with her friend Huniu, which means tiger girl. Photo: qzwb.com
Alice Shen

A nine-year-old girl from southeast China has become inseparable from her unusual pet, a young tiger cub.

Sun Xiaojing, a zookeeper’s daughter, started playing with the cub when it was born three months ago and has become firm friends with it since then, Quanzhou Evening Post reported.

“She has been feeding the cub bottled milk, bathing and playing with it,” said Xiaojing’s father, who is a zookeeper at Donghu Zoo in downtown Quanzhou, a coastal city in Fujian province.

Xiaojing named the cub Huniu, which means “tiger girl” in Chinese.

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Huniu the tiger is allowed out of its cage until its teeth start to harden. Photo: qzwb.com
Huniu the tiger is allowed out of its cage until its teeth start to harden. Photo: qzwb.com

Sun told the newspaper: “My daughter’s classmates think tigers are scary but Huniu is her friend.

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“Huniu is really playful and likes to be scratched on the belly.

“She runs to my daughter the moment she comes back from school.”

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