A cow in southern India has become a surrogate mother to seven orphaned puppies.

Hanumantha Saali, a farmer in a village near Lingasugur town in the state of Karnataka, was faced with a problem when his dog died soon after giving birth to a litter.

It became very difficult to feed the newborn pups with a small container and he feared that some of them might die due to a lack of adequate feeding.

A few days ago, he saw one of them crawling to his cow and start drinking milk from her udder.

Soon the other pups followed and started feeding from her.

The generous bovine did not appear to mind at all and sat for a long time without getting up to feed the entire hungry litter.

Since then, the cow has been feeding them regularly. She also lets them play with her, bite her tail and snuggle up against her belly.

But when she gets up, the family takes care to keep the pups away as there is a risk of the cow stepping on them by accident.

This clip was filmed on October 13.

A cow has been generously feeding seven orphaned pups in southern India.

Hanumantha Saali, a farmer in a village near Lingasugur town, was faced with a problem when his dog died soon after giving birth to a litter. It became very difficult to feed the newborn pups with a small container and he feared that some of them may perish due to lack of adequate feed.

A few days ago, he saw one of them crawling to his cow, which was sitting nearby, and started drinking milk from her udder. Soon the other pups followed and started feeding from her. The cow did not mind at all, and in fact, sat for a long time without getting up to let them feed to their fill.

Since then, the cow has been feeding them regularly. She also lets them play with her, bite her tail and snuggle up against her belly.

But when she gets up, the family takes care to keep the pups away as there is a risk of the cow stepping on them unwittingly.