Would You Trust A "domesticated" Big Cat?

[ToraToraTora]

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-26485494
Ok this zoo may have come up with a way to domesticate a lion but how confident could anyone be they are correct? Cold comfort once it's bitten your head off!

[emmie]

no i wouldn't, even so called experts come unstuck, so end up minus bits or dead, whichever comes first

[woofgang]

Hmmm I would want to understand what the system was before I considered it. I wonder if any part of the system consists of removal of claws and teeth?

[sp1814]

"A zoo in Argentina claims to have developed a system of domesticating wild animals, which is so effective that visitors are allowed to touch the zoo's lions, tigers and bears, and even feed them by hand."

The system will be 100% perfect, right up to the time when someone gets a little bit eaten.

Then it will be 99% perfect.

And so on.

No - I wouldn't go near a so called 'domesticated' wild animal.

[ToraToraTora]

The sad thing is though SP, once someone does get a little bit eaten they'll put the poor animal down for being a wild animal and proving their system wrong.

[anotheoldgit]

George Galloway isn't on the loose again is he?

[sp1814]

TTT

Yep...like those shark hunts that are always organised after an attack.

As far as I'm concerned, if I'm attacked by a shark whilst out swimming off an Australian beach, effectively I've walked into the shark's kitchen...and therefore it's my fault if I get a bit gnawed.

[emmie]

exactly right, them's the rules.

[wolf63]

I would love a pet tiger, but realistically that would not be a good idea for either me or the cat. Our little domesticated felines are willful creatures and they bite and scratch when they don't get their own way.

I would hate to be the one trying to persuade a big cat to stop stripping the wallpaper or to stop taking chunks out of the woodwork.

I feel sorry for any animals involved, but not the stupid humans.

[emmie]

wolf i doubt they would get as far as the wallpaper, you would be first on the menu

[trt]

They don't seem to have any problems in Thailand when I visited the monastery, but felt a bit uncomfortable being so near them.

[emmie]

i think its rather risky, i wouldn't do it. Not only that, if tigers get used to seeing man around, won't that put them more at risk of being killed for the skins, and body parts.

[Buenchico]

I'd trust a domesticated big cat far more readily than a domesticated woman ;-)

[jno]

if you have a baby cheetah for a couple of weeks, it's yours for life; they become habituated to humans very quickly. (There's a theory that they're as much cat as dog - their claws don't retract properly.)

I don't think I'd try it out with a lion, though.

[humbersloop]

^^oi Chris, I heard that!

Yes, in the same way as I'd let Harry Styles loose on neurosurgery. What bright spark thought this one up??

[wolf63]

Chimpanzees are the only mammal that I can think of that is really dangerous.

A tiger or lion could be a great companion - but the problem is that all it needs to do is lash out in frustration and you be hurt/killed as a result.

I was bitten nine times on the first morning of being adopted by my current felines. My hand became infected and it hurt like he11. And that was a domesticated lady cat. She later attacked the vet and vet nurse.

[B00]

The thing is, why should there be a need in the first place?

They're wild animals, and should be left to be just that, with little (or preferably ) contact with humans.

[woofgang]

there is a zoo in the US (Los Angeles IIRC) that, 20 years ago, used to hand raise some kittens of certain big cats. They did it so they could take them on TV and the public could get close to them, but not too close. Their reasoning was that the more people who could actually see the animals close to, the more they could be got to care about issues like deforestation, poaching and so on. I can see the point of doing it if it doesn't stress the animals and doesn't involve other animal cruelty.

[Old_Geezer]

I'd trust them ... to rip me open from top to bottom the moment they got into a bad mood.