I worked at an AZA accredited zoo as a vet tech for a bit. We had to use darts to tranquilize all the large carnivores to collect samples and monitor them yearly, or more so, if needed.

Over time, it was decided that one of our tigers was to be moved to another zoo for breeding purposes because his genetics were more diverse (SSP). That day I was given a dart gun to distract the tiger while the vet darted him from a different angle. When the tiger saw me with the gun and charged me, I never had a chance. If there wasn’t seriously enforced chain link and bars between me and him... as it was, I’m pretty sure I needed fresh pants that day. I was shaking for a long time after we loaded him up.
A moment I’ll never forget.

LOL Prefontaine you beat me to it.

I have been following Messi for a quite a while. He really is a pretty cool cat. I think I posted one of there videos in the cat thread a while back

I thought it pretty cool that they actually went through a obedience/training school for dogs when he was younger. Their is a "class pic" somewhere where all the dogs are lined up with Messi somewhere in the middle.

I will never understand why some people want to keep an apex predator as a pet. Apex predators cannot be tamed, and the very best you can hope for is their tolerance of your presence which these people anthropomorphise as affection. The day that tolerance goes away, well...

As I posted earlier the cougar my acquaintance in college had was just as tame as it could be(would have been all over u-tube had it been around back then) until it wasn't.

No matter how tame they APPEAR, they can revert to wild instincts in a heartbeat with little or no warning.

Tommy

quote:

Originally posted by cheni:
[FLASH_VIDEO]<iframe frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/OkO7be9Dn2c" width="560"></iframe>[/FLASH_VIDEO]

Keep an eye out in the media about the soon to be story one or both of them get bit or consumed, it's a matter of time.

They are called wild animals for a reason. They may LOOK and ACT domesticated, but big predators are always a small step away from an instinctive hunting reaction. People that keep them as “pets” do so at their great peril.

Dad was a Vet. And at times cared for zoo animals. I was quite young and remember only a few things. One was riding on the back of a male lion. and also seeing chimps who did not want to have a shot. One older male was smart enough to grab a hypo and chase others with it. Zoo keepers had a tough time with him. Little chimps, no problem

One of my rules: Don't have a pet that can eat you.

quote:

Originally posted by justsigin:
One of my rules: Don't have a pet that can eat you.

Advice to live by

We have always had dogs and cats. Our last dog died a few years back and we are down to just 3 cats. I really like cats. That being said, they each have very distinct personalities and the one that is most prone to scratch or whatever when she is done would be terrifying in that size format. Cats are amazing. I can’t imagine much of an improvement in their killing ability unless they could fly too.

I would love to pet that cougar. I would not want to live with that cougar. This will go awry.

Growing up I watched our indoor/outdoor cat come out of some bushes and take out a dog that was getting aggressive at our beagle I was taking for a walk. The dog probably had 40 pounds on her and it never stood a chance. It could not get away fast enough.

quote:

Originally posted by Slippery Pete:
my dogs would die for me. Doesn't seem to me cats are wired that way.

I think SlipperyPete's right, there is a line of self preservation with cat's that ain't the same place as in a dog's. Loyal, but much more pragmatic.

I'm reminded of the 'Braveheart' scene: "I've spoken with the Almighty, and I think he can get me outta this mess. But I'm pretty sure, you're fooked." The reaction/look on Mel Gibson's face after that is priceless.

I believe cat's feel and care, but I also believe a constant calculus is underway in thier brains that is not the same as that of a typical dog.

College friend had a pet mountain lion, picked it up as a very young kitten, abut starved to death. We used to wrestle with him. Then one night the game changed, he grabbed my shirt in his teeth and raked my belly with his hind feet, I could not believe the force he applied to my belly. I figured my intestines were spread all over the floor.

My friend said "Don't let him get away with that, bat him around and tell him Bad"! I did and told him bad kitty, he hid behind the couch, but I never wrestled with him again. He probably weighed around 50 lbs at the time. Left some serious bruises on my belly but never put his claws out.

Instincts. I have a large sight hound dog. The most loving, docile, and gentle dog I've ever owned. Gentle with children, loves all adults, literally not a mean bone in his body. That is until a cat or rabbit wanders into the yard.

I've trained dogs for 25 years on the side and spent my fair share of time in Schutzhund and obedience. Specializing in obedience and personal protection. Done tracking, SAR work, etc. etc.

This is impressive. Obedience, but more importantly the distraction training is excellent. It was this type of thing was a damn requirement for people here, for any animal that is going to be in public, on a lead.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?...jEY&feature=youtu.be

I'm fascinated by this as a novice trainer. That damn cat isn't bothered too much by distractions, and is quite gentle. If it was full size I'd be saying no damn way but it's half the size of what it should be. I know the owner is extremely knowledgeable. Doesn't look anything near his first rodeo in training. He also trims the claws frequently. Looks solid to me. While I wouldn't be surprised of an incident, there are always exceptions to rules. I worked with a trainer that had a run Wolf that he got out of a litter at something like 8-10 weeks. Raised it, trained it, and kept it until it died of natural causes. But it wasn't taken in public and only pack touched it or dealt with it. He had zero issues and told me he kept the prey drive letting it kill rabbits, squirrels, etc, on his property. He also said the public would "no way in hell" deal with it. He owned a lot of acres, his property was fenced, and he was what I would call an expert trainer having many Schutzhund titled GSD's. Let's see what happens. I respect this owner of this cat immensely and wish them much success.

When I was a kid my folks spent a lot of time in Africa and some times I got to go along. Mostly Kenya and Tanzania but all over southern and eastern Africa.

My folks were friends with a family a couple of towns over and we would go to visit them every so often. They had a pet Cheetah that only had one eye. He was kept in a large compound and when we would go to visit I played with him unsupervised. I still can't believe my folks let me do that.

He was a great cat. His favorite game was to stalk you in the compound. You would hear or see nothing and then WHOOSH he would go flying by and he would tag you with his paw as he went by.

Because of the one eye his depth perception could be a little wonky and he would miss. So you would hear WHOOSH and then him trying to scramble and get his footing after missing. Like some giant cartoon cat.

One of my favorite childhood memories.

I too have seen this guys video and have no problem with what he is doing. Beautiful cat.

I've a big Maine Coon that's been around my place for almost the whole time I've lived there. 10 years or more. He was full grown when I met him. Used to belong to the neighbors but now I belong to him. TC the boss cat.

A while back a guy was over at my place doing some work. Asked if he could let his pit out of the truck since he was stuck in there all day. Pretty big dog. Young and full of muscle.

I like pits and the cats are pretty damn smart about staying out of trouble.

I walked around to my back porch and the pit followed me, spotted TC on the porch and ran right up to him.

Old TC turned around and looked that dog right in they eye. No sounds that I know of but he looked like he was about to go critical on that dog.

I grabbed the dog by the collar and took him back to the guy.

Cats are tough.

Earlier this year my family and I visited an exotic animal sanctuary in north Florida. We got lucky and had a 2+ hour tour given by the owner. It was a great experience getting to view all of the animals up close but a couple of things he said really stuck with me.

First, the majority of the animals were there because they had killed or seriously injured their previous owners. I asked him why they were still alive after doing that, which led to the second point: The assumption underlying my question was the reason he took the animals, and also why things had turned out poorly for the prior owners. The animals were not defective or malicious; they were predators, which is exactly what they had always been and would always be. No matter how long you interact with lions, tigers, leopards, etc. they will always be predators that can and may kill a person on a whim, and the moment an "owner" thinks otherwise things will turn out poorly.

After that revelation I asked him if he had varying levels of respect for the animals he tended to. He said they were all equally dangerous except for the male lion. Although he would go into his enclosure and interact with him on occasion, he had to be very careful when he would do so. Case in point, the day we were there the owner had a noticeable limp due to a recent knee injury. He told us to watch the male lion as we walked by and, sure enough, the lion was paying very close attention to him. "That's not normal" he said. "He knows I'm not 100% physically which means I'm not dominant. If I went in his enclosure right now I'd be dead in 30 seconds." "Is that what happened to his prior owner?" I asked. "No prior owner--I raised him since he was a cub" he replied. "Doesn't matter a bit to him."

I learned a lot during that visit, the least of which is that no one has a pet big cat--they co-exist as long as the animal chooses not to establish itself as the dominant one in the relationship.

I'm sure they could kill him in a second if they wanted to. But they don't seem to.




Link to original video: https://youtu.be/XwCeqJMliYM