Truth Behind The Story of the Tigress with Piglets!

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Unbelievable stories, especially of strange animal behaviours, often fascinate netizens and many tend to share such stories without checking their veracity; hence, many times social media users get misled by out-of-context stories. One such rumour going viral at present talks about a mother tiger who had lost her cubs due to premature birth, responded positively when she was given piglets clad in custom-made tiger-striped jackets, resembling the lost tiger cubs. 

Let’s look at the viral posts in detail.

Social Media Posts:

A social media post stated that a grieving tigress at a zoo lost her cubs and became depressed, refusing to eat. To save her life, caretakers introduced piglets dressed in custom tiger-striped jackets/costumes. The tigress initially watched warily but then adopted the piglets, grooming and protecting them as her own. 

The post says that this represents an unusual interspecies adoption where maternal instincts overcame natural predator-prey relationships, facilitated by the piglets’ tiger-like appearance. The story suggests this demonstrates how grief can be healed through connection and that motherhood transcends species boundaries.

Facebook | Archived 

We checked the credibility of these posts as follows.

Fact Check:

These photos, at first glance, show an unnatural situation, especially since they raise doubts as to whether the mother tiger is unable to identify whether these are her cubs or not.

Accordingly, we conducted a Reverse Image search on the above photos. It was seen that this photo and a series of similar images have been circulating on the internet at various times.

A few years ago, the news item containing these photos was posted on social media in the same way. Upon further investigation, we found that these photos were taken in 2004 at Sriracha Tiger Zoo, in Chonburi Province, Thailand.

Snopes, an international fact-checking group, points out that while this photo may be actual, the story that is shared among social media platforms is false and constructed. 

The Pattaya Mail Newspaper stated that the zoo where this photo was taken had set up such a display mainly to entertain visitors by letting them watch something unusual. Archived Link

The photo shows a Bengal tiger named ‘Saimai’ at the Sriracha Tiger Zoo in Thailand. Although the Sriracha Tiger Zoo was not very well known, it had become a fairly well-known zoo with one of the most successful tiger breeding programs in the world. 

In addition to breeding tigers, this tiger zoo was known for creating successful relationships between animals of different species.  Like some Western zoos, animals are not only displayed here for educational purposes, but they are also used for shows and exhibitions, such as circuses and carnivals. 

Snopes mentions that AWRI, a welfare organisation, stated that the display of adult and baby animals and different species (such as tigers and piglets) in the same cage is intended to make it interesting and entertaining for visitors.

Sriracha Tiger Zoo, located about an hour from Bangkok, Thailand, was home to over 400 tigers, Asian elephants, crocodiles, camels, snakes and other exotic animals.

Scenes such as a mother pig nursing tiger cubs and piglets, and a mother tiger feeding piglets dressed in tiger-print clothing in a brooding glass room were familiar at the zoo. 

The Pattaya Mail newspaper further states that there have been instances where mother pigs have fed tiger cubs, and tiger mothers have fed piglets, and tigers have been allowed to form loving relationships with other pigs and even dogs.

However, although the images of the Sriracha Tiger Zoo look attractive at first glance, concerns have been raised about the facilities provided for the animals here. According to the Animal Welfare Institute (AWI), in early 2004, the zoo came under investigation for illegally breeding protected wild animals for commercial export. 

The zoo was reportedly involved in selling around 100 tigers to China, where tiger parts are in high demand, and in late 2024, the zoo was temporarily closed for a month after a deadly outbreak of bird flu. The institute says the disease, believed to have spread through raw chicken fed to the animals, has caused the deaths of between 80 and 100 tigers.

Dehiwala Zoological Gardens

We interviewed Ms. Dinushika Manawadu, Assistant Director of the Dehiwala Zoo, to clarify the issues surrounding the breeding of animals with other species and the cohabitation of animals.

She stated that breeding animals in this way affects the health of the animals, and that it is not recommended to keep animals in the same habitat in the same cage. Even though the animals are domesticated, since animals can change, there is a risk of them being eaten by other animals.

It is also said that breeding tigers with species such as pigs disrupts natural feeding, lactation, and digestive cycles. For example, tigers fed by pigs may have digestive or immune problems due to an unnatural diet, while pigs fed by a tiger may receive milk that is not suited to their nutritional needs. It was also pointed out that this practice can seriously harm animal welfare by prematurely separating pups from their mothers, causing emotional distress, disrupting maternal bonds, and increasing aggression or disease among the animals. 

However, due to the COVID pandemic that affected the entire world, the aforementioned Sriracha Tiger Zoo was closed, and our Factcrescendo Thailand team confirmed that it is still closed.

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Conclusion : 

Our investigation revealed that there is no evidence that the piglets were given to cure the tigress’ depression. It was revealed that the piglets were kept near the tigers for the entertainment of visitors to the zoo. Furthermore, it was revealed that these photos are not recent, but are related to an old story that circulated on social media several years ago. Therefore, the statement made by the above social media post is misleading.