"Hello, 911? My PET LION just got loose, and I'm wondering...."

[SDC]

This story was on the news up here this morning, and it raises more than a few questions. The lion in question was only 6 months old, and basically a (BIG) kitten at this point (though he apparently tore the hell out of the back seat of a police cruiser while he was being transported), but where the hell do you get a freaking LION to begin with? As long as an animal is being kept securely and humanely, I don't really have a problem with it, but this was apparently on an Indian reserve where none of these ruless apply. At the least, I think the "owner" should be looking at hefty fines for this BS.
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20080430/lion_loose_080501/20080501?hub=TopStories

[Ben]

Alex: Anyway, I was wondering if maybe I could crash here for a while.
Dante: Whoa, I don't know, man. I got a business to run. This is like my office as well as my home. Plus, the lion comes in a couple days.
Alex: You're getting a lion?
Dante: Yeah.
Alex: Why?
Dante: To protect my s**t.
Alex: Never heard of a dog?
Dante: Dude, you can get past a dog. Nobody f***s with a lion.
Alex: Yeah, that's true.

[Tallpine]

Mine just lives out in the corn patch.

[BlueStarLizzard]

i've known people with pet mountain lions. they spend a fortune at the grocery store on fresh meat and can't have kids or other pets, because the animals are still wild animals and you just cannot predict what they will do. i know the usual way to get one is to rescue it as a baby from the wild and then get certain permits and training to keep it.
as for an african lion, i know that they get rescued sometimes from folks who own them illigially (canned hunts, and such) and from zoo's that don't need them anymore (something about wanting babys, but then not wanting them as adults) but they usually go to animal sancutarys rather then privet homes.

i think its more that some people are nuts. yeah sure, its real cute and its diffrent, but dogs are a lot easier and more compatible. [sarcasm] it might have something to do with the fact that dogs are actually domesticated [/sarcasm]

[SomeKid]

i've known people with pet mountain lions. they spend a fortune at the grocery store on fresh meat and can't have kids or other pets, because the animals are still wild animals and you just cannot predict what they will do. i know the usual way to get one is to rescue it as a baby from the wild and then get certain permits and training to keep it.
as for an african lion, i know that they get rescued sometimes from folks who own them illigially (canned hunts, and such) and from zoo's that don't need them anymore (something about wanting babys, but then not wanting them as adults) but they usually go to animal sancutarys rather then privet homes.

i think its more that some people are nuts. yeah sure, its real cute and its diffrent, but dogs are a lot easier and more compatible. [sarcasm] it might have something to do with the fact that dogs are actually domesticated [/sarcasm]

Just keep it outside, let it be underfed - it can always snack on the neighbors pets, especially if they hvae those annoying yapping wiener dogs.

[Manedwolf]

Most people who have wild animals as pets seem to be irresponsible sorts who just want it because it's different and trendy. Unfortunately, the poor animal usually gets an unhappy end.

Even smaller animals. Countless small animals die every year due to stupid owners, like fennec foxes (they're tameable) kept in air conditioning who get pneumonia and die with their lungs full of fluid. Idiots.

Then there was that jerk who "declawed" their lions, maiming them and making them unable to walk without severe pain, who should be fed to lions.

Won't even go into the wolf hybrids. You want a dog that looks like a wolf, get a malamute.

[GigaBuist]

i've known people with pet mountain lions. they spend a fortune at the grocery store on fresh meat

I worked with a guy once that rescued lions and kept them at his home. He said he had a deal with a local grocery store:  They'd give him the expired meat rather than throw it away. Pretty cool.

[BlueStarLizzard]

Won't even go into the wolf hybrids. You want a dog that looks like a wolf, get a malamute.

manedwolf. i thank you profusley for pointing this out. it drives me nuts when people think that having a wolf hybrid is cool.

however, i will point out that a wolf is much smaller and lighter boned then an alaskan malamute.

[Bigjake]

guess I'm missing the point about why a wolf hybrid is a Bad Thing..... George Hill over at THR had one for the longest time and said it was the best do he ever owned.  Buddy of mine claims his mutt has wolf blood too and it's a great dog.

[Manedwolf]

guess I'm missing the point about why a wolf hybrid is a Bad Thing..... George Hill over at THR had one for the longest time and said it was the best do he ever owned.  Buddy of mine claims his mutt has wolf blood too and it's a great dog.

Because wolves aren't dogs, and dogs aren't wolves, and there's always a chance you'll end up with something schizophrenic as a result of mixing the genes of a WILD PREDATOR and a domestic animal after about 50,000 years of domestication. You never know how their brains will be wired.

And one day, when a little kid screams and runs, and something shorts and reads as "PREY", well...it's happened.

Means the kid gets hurt or killed, the animal gets destroyed. I've seen way too many stories of wolf hybrids having to be put down because they just "suddenly did something bad".

No, they didn't do something bad. They reacted like a wolf, and they get killed for it.

True, bluestar, about mals. Someone could also just get a black shepherd or something else.

I really don't know why people want wild cats in particular. Housecats have every bit of the instincts of a wild cat, from the hunting to the behind-wiggle and pounce, they just do less damage when they follow instincts. If you've got a lion aimed at you when it does that behind-wiggle thing, you're pretty much dead. With a housecat, you'll just get pantlegs attacked.

[BlueStarLizzard]

i also question those who think they have a wolf hybrid. usually they have a leggy malamute, or a malamute/husky mix. hybrids just arn't that commen in most areas of the US.

and manedwolf is right. you have a serious problem when a wild animal raised in a domestic setting reverts to its instincts.

the people i work for have a wolf. not a hybrid, a wolf. roger was given to them as part of an exeriment to determine wether a wolfs kill instinct was genetic or learned. roger was raised with a litter of anatolian puppies. but unlike the anatolians, he does not accept people, new situations or even the attention of his two owners at the same time (although if one of them goes alone to the kennel, he can be very affectionate to that one). roger has attached himself to one of the anatolians that he was raised with and honda cannot be remoced from rogers presence for more then a couple of hours. once honda got sick and had to be cared for up at the house. roger almost died because he wouldn't eat or drink until honda was returned. i have actually gone into his run before. he stays on the other side of the partition, as far away from me as he can manage. if you approch the side of his run, he will race around his dog house in a nervouse manner and watch you constantly. despite the fact that he was raised entirely be people since he was a few days old, he is not in anyway, shape or form, domesticated.

BTW, the instinct to kill is learned. you can put a baby goat in with roger and he'll try to take care of it. of course, if it dies, he'll eat it.

[grampster]

From time to time we'll have feral cats around.  We live in the bottom end of a national forest.  Mostly they get hit by cars or coyote's, bobcats or eagle's eat them, or they starve or freeze to death.  One small male, one step up from a kitten, a gold colored shorthair came around.  I tried to befriend him.  I used food, water, lying on the ground and making cat noises, sitting quietly etc.  It took me a year before that cat would come near enough for me to touch him, and then only now and then.  All that cat got from me was food, water and some petting, everything he craved, yet he never, ever trusted me.  Finally he got flattened by a car.  Even though he was feral, it was sad to see him get killed.

[The Annoyed Man]

Well, y'all are right... to a point.

 If you're willing (and able) to devote the time and effort to doing so, pretty much any animal can be "tamed" to the point of making a decent pet. But let's not get into how much time it may take, mmmk?

 The zoos in Thailand have LOADS of "wild animals" that are just fine with humans. But we're talking about animals that are with their handlers pretty much constantly. And of course, those handlers know VERY well how to deal with their charges (body language is HUGE)...

 Know of one lady who owns a tiger: feeds it something along the lines of Gravy Train. Only problem she's ever run into is having an "intimate moment" with a gentleman, and the cat took it as an attack. Guy wasn't hurt, but the moment sure was... 

 There's also a woman that owns a rescue for tigers here in the States. Only problem she's run into is understanding that she can't have a waterbed (yes, the cats sleep with her)...

[crt360]

I had an encounter with a lion in high school.  I was getting a book out of my locker and felt something bump against my leg.  I looked down and there was a large African lion cub looking up at me.  It was about the size of a large dog, but really powerful.  It seemed pretty friendly, so I played around with it for a minute or two (I was already late to class and the only one in the halls).  It followed me to class and the teacher was like, "that's another detention for you, crt, what the . . ?"  It turned out another teacher that I knew owned the lion and it had escaped from her classroom.  She has a farm/ranch with other exotic game on it.  I saw her about 10 years later and asked her about the lion.  She said he got really big with a full mane and liked to chill by the swimming pool.  IIRC, she eventually gave him to a zoo that wanted him.

[LadySmith]

It took me a year before that cat would come near enough for me to touch him, and then only now and then.  All that cat got from me was food, water and some petting, everything he craved, yet he never, ever trusted me.

It does take a while. I've had my feral kitten indoors now since last July. I can pet him and comb him, but that's pretty much it. Any quick movements and he's back to being wild. It takes some work getting him to the vet and building his trust back up after.
He's the only one of my cats that the dog does not mess with. In fact, that cat picks on the dog.

[The Annoyed Man]

A whole lot of "taming" depends on how early you get the animal. We have a couple cats here (all ours are "feral captures") that you can just about bounce off the walls without it effecting their attitude with humans (which is "You have two legs! *FLOP* LOVE ME!!!")

[209]

Feral cats can be tamed.... kind of. 

We just rescued a kitten in January from freezing to death.  My wife found it at a barn where she was taking care of horses.  The barn owner said the mother cat was feral and he remmbers that she came from feral stock also.  So our kitten was at least three generations into reverting.

The cat is still a bit off.  If you go near him when he's eating, he'll hiss at you.  He is friendly sometimes, but can get a bit aggressive if you play with him.  Still, we're keeping him.  We do lock him in the basement when my son brings over the baby because he didn't seem too fond of the grandson.

But, he is one helluva hunter.  We have an old farm house with a fieldstone foundation and get mice in all of the time.  I think he's eliminated most of them.

[roo_ster]

Mine just lives out in the corn patch.

[secondhand_lions]"Did you order a hooker?"[/secondhand_lions]

[Manedwolf]

Well, y'all are right... to a point.

 If you're willing (and able) to devote the time and effort to doing so, pretty much any animal can be "tamed" to the point of making a decent pet. But let's not get into how much time it may take, mmmk?

 The zoos in Thailand have LOADS of "wild animals" that are just fine with humans. But we're talking about animals that are with their handlers pretty much constantly. And of course, those handlers know VERY well how to deal with their charges (body language is HUGE)...

 Know of one lady who owns a tiger: feeds it something along the lines of Gravy Train. Only problem she's ever run into is having an "intimate moment" with a gentleman, and the cat took it as an attack. Guy wasn't hurt, but the moment sure was... 

 There's also a woman that owns a rescue for tigers here in the States. Only problem she's run into is understanding that she can't have a waterbed (yes, the cats sleep with her)...

And a lady was just mauled by "domesticated" cheetahs she raised while doing a show. A kid was bouncing a ball, one cheetah focused on it, went into hunting mode, she was in the way, she got knocked down, the cheetah was still in hunting mode and started biting on her, the other joined in.

They're called "wild animals" because they are. And apart from zoos used for preservation and education, that's where they belong. The wild. They're not pets.

If you want a pet, there's plenty of loving animals in the shelters who will be put down if they're not adopted. Animals bred over thousands of years to depend on humans for love and care and attention.

[grampster]

Our youngest cat, Tubby, wandered into my garage 9 years ago.  We don't know where he came from.  He was perhaps only a month old, maybe a day or hours from starvation; teeny tiny and skin and bones.  He was named Tubby because he wasn't.  He has since become his name.  He's been an inside cat since day one.

He is totally mild mannered and loves attention, but on his terms.  We've always wondered if he was an offspring of a feral cat or just a kitten that someone brought to the country and threw away.

[doc2rn]

I was gonna be witty but Tallpine beat me to it. He's just a big kitty officer really!

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

knewa guy withan ocelot  gave him  75 stitches one nite. the wold mixes weren't much worse than dogs personality wise.  just a bit more skilled when they crossed the line

[doc2rn]

I feel his pain, my neighbor flagged me down this morning and told me he spotted a mountain lion in his front yard. I have hunted them here in KS before, even though many said I was full of s***. Well evidently not if my neighbor, a VP and avid hunter is seeing them too.

I just felt that it was too coincidental, two big kitty problems in one week, the irony. Sorry did not mean to hi-jack the topic, rant off.

[LadySmith]

We've always wondered if he was an offspring of a feral cat or just a kitten that someone brought to the country and threw away.

I asked my vet about that when I took mine in for his first physical. She told me you can never really tell with cats.
And then we watched my tiny little kitten shred the burly vet tech who said he could handle him.

I feel his pain, my neighbor flagged me down this morning and told me he spotted a mountain lion in his front yard.

A mountain lion came down to where I live a few years ago.
I never saw it, only the footprint it left on top of my big trash can.
There is something chilling about having a cat around that can kill and eat you.