Five African painted dogs born last in October 2009 at the Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium were weaned from a domestic mutt who was picked to be their surrogate mother.  Unfortunately four other puppies from the same litter died.

Zoo staff had to intervene in raising the pups because their mother died of a ruptured uterus shortly after delivering the litter on October. 25. One pup died at birth, and four of the nine remaining pups died over the next 11 days.

Zoo officials found a mixed-breed mutt who had recently delivered a litter of pups of her own at a Pittsburgh animal shelter. That dog, named Honey, nursed the wild dogs, who as of the end of November were mostly eating soft food.

According to experts the mortality rate for painted pups is 50 percent, even when born in the wild to a healthy mother.