Making news on this day 43 years ago: some Canberra Liberals were ready to cross the floor of federal parliament, the city centre was in danger of atrophy, and there was a warning of iodine in milk. But it was a small but heart-warming story on the front page of The Canberra Times that caught our eye this time - the story of a chicken choosing a dog for its mother.
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Jonica Paramor, 16, of Weetangera, brought home a day-old chick as part of a science experiment to prove the chicken would adopt her as its mother.
Nothing of the kind happened. The chick decided the Paramor family's two-year-old golden retriever, Sam, was its mother.
Sam, with all his maternal instincts aroused, reciprocated with huge doggy licks and let the chick, called Twitch, peck at his bones. Sam would also sleep protectively over Twitch. At one point Sam protected Twitch from a magpie attack, chasing off the swooper and protecting Twitch with his body.
The front page photo showed Sam sharing his lunch with Twitch.
Jonica had to tell her science teacher at Catholic Girls High that the experiment did not work.
