PITTSBURGH -- Just two days after giving birth to a baby cub, the Pittsburgh Zoo and PPG Aquarium's Amur tiger rejected its baby, which could be due to a lack of milk production.

Video: Watch the Cub Feeding From A Bottle

Toma, the zoo's Amur tiger, gave birth to a female cub early Sunday morning.

After being cared for by the zoo's veterinary staff, the cub was to be reintroduced to her mother on Tuesday, but zoo officials said Toma rejected the cub. When trying to reintroduce the cub again on Thursday, Toma rejected it again, showing no interest in taking care of him.

"I think we are done," said zoo vet Dr. Cindy Stadler. "I think the day before yesterday, where she showed no interest and today, and vocalizing quite loudly, but there is really no interest on her part."

The head of the zoo, Dr. Barbara Baker, said Toma is being given a drug to spur milk production in hopes she'll begin to care for the cub.

Baker said examinations Wednesday turned up no immediate evidence of any illness in the mother or cub.

But Baker said the mother's below-normal milk production might be causing her indifference to the cub. The cub is now being bottle-fed.

If the drug doesn't improve Toma's milk production and spur more maternal instincts, the cub will continue to be bottle-fed.

Baker said tiger cubs have been successfully raised that way, though the zoo prefers its animals to raise their own young.

"If we can get him off to a good start, he could be put in a breeding situation," said zoo mammal curator Amos Morris.

Amur tigers are an endangered species. There are only about 400 left in the wild and about 190 at zoos across the world.

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