Only 48 South China tigers remain in China QUICKTIME Tiger cubs 1.8 M / 18 sec. / 240x180 QuickTime movie Please enable Javascript   FRINGE MAIL   Would you like to receive a weekly summary of Fringe news in your inbox? Sign up for Fringe Mail.

April 8, 1999
Web posted at: 12:57 p.m. EDT (1657 GMT)

SHANGHAI, China (CNN) -- When Lele, a South China tiger, gave birth to three cubs at the Shanghai Zoo, zoo keepers celebrated. It's rare for the cubs to be born in captivity.

But the celebration turned to worry when Lele, which means "Double Happiness," suddenly stopped feeding her cubs. Her keepers feared she might even hurt the cubs and decided to separate them from their mother.

Zoo keeper Wang Li then "adopted" the newborns -- two males and one female -- feeding them by hand and keeping a 24-hour watch.

"Now they're really healthy and their weight continues to increase. They are very energetic," Wang said proudly.

Only 48 South China tigers remain in China, and the Shanghai Zoo is home to 10 of them.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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