Sun Xiaojing is best friends with a three-month-old tiger cub.
A nine-year-old girl in southwest China is going viral on social media, thanks to her rather unusual best friend - a tiger cub. Sun Xiaojing, a zookeeper's daughter, started playing with the cub when it was born three months ago, according to South China Morning Post. Today, the two have become "inseparable."
"She has been feeding the cub bottled milk, bathing and playing with it," says Sun's father, who is a zookeeper at Donghu Zoo in Quanzhou, a city in Fujian province.
Sun Xiaojing has named the tiger cub Huniu, which means "tiger girl" in Chinese.
"My daughter's classmates think tigers are scary but Huniu is her friend. Huniu is really playful and likes to be scratched on the belly. She runs to my daughter the moment she comes back from school," says Sun's father.
Adorable pictures of the two playing together have taken over Chinese social media over the last few days, collecting millions of likes and some concerned comments. A few people have pointed out that tigers should not be treated as pets and are legally protected animals.
According to local reports, the tiger cub will be moved into a cage next month when its teeth harden, and Sun will no longer be allowed to play with it.
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