BEIJING (Reuters) - Three rare Chinese snow leopard cubs, forsaken by their mother, have found an unusual stand-in mum - a dog in suburban Beijing. Keepers at Beijing zoo were forced to search for an alternative mother for the baby leopards after the mother refused to suckle them hours after their birth two weeks ago. "The reason that the mother leopard did not want to feed its babies was possiblly because of the noisy environment," zoo sources said. A dog which had recently given birth to a litter of puppies was brought in from a dog-raising centre on the outskirts of Beijing. The snow leopards were in good health and would suckle from the dog for at least one month, Xinhua said. Snow leopards are protected animals in China but face threats from poachers eager to turn a profit from their plush white pelts.