Group Writing: Playing with Tigers

 

Have you ever had a moment when you realized that you made a decision to do something incredibly stupid and wondered if you had gone temporarily insane?

I didn’t think I was the only one.

And yet, in the moment, it was too good an opportunity to pass up.

We were on a trip in Thailand and on a whim, our tour guide (who had also become our friend) suggested we take a side trip that hadn’t been on our agenda. We were intrigued so, of course, we agreed to go.

The side trip was to the Tiger Temple, a refuge for tigers managed by a group of Thai monks. The refuge was created when a Thai came to the temple with a tiger cub that he had captured in the forest; he realized that the larger the tiger became, the more unmanageable and dangerous it would be. He was reluctant to abandon it in the wild (possibly thinking it had lost its natural instinct to hunt for food) and left it with the monks. It didn’t take long for the word to get out to other foolish Thais who had also adopted tigers that they had a place to take their cubs-becoming-adult tigers.

And the monks took each one in.

Over time the temple adopted many tigers, who also bred and had more cubs. (There’s no wild creature more adorable than a tiger cub.)

On the day we arrived at the temple, we had an opportunity to meet privately with the abbot of the temple. After a brief chat, he invited us to visit the tigers, which were in large cages. He explained that they took the animals regularly on leashes into an uninhabited area nearby, removed the leashes and the tigers were able to roam freely. The monks had developed such a rapport with the tigers that they could pet and scratch the animals and they responded to their instructions.

As we approached the cages, the abbot told us that he could bring out two cats, one for my husband and one for me. He would temporarily put each one on a heavy chain which he wrapped around two trees, and we would be able to pet them.

Pet them?

Of course, my husband jumped at the chance, while I consented a bit reluctantly. The abbot asked us to stand nearby as he connected each tiger to a chain, and then asked each of us to approach the tiger from behind; the tiger would hear but not see us. If the tiger turned to look at us, the abbot would gently push his head forward so that it wouldn’t mistake us for dessert. Then the abbot told us we could pet the tiger.

So I did.

The hair was coarse to the touch. Underneath my hand, I could feel the incredible strength of the tiger emanating from his body. I continued to stand there, mesmerized by the markings of the beast and the unbelievable power of the moment. Finally, I stepped aside and away. The tiger meanwhile had tried to get a look at me a couple of times, but each time the abbot calmly moved the tiger’s head forward.

I will never forget that magical and foolish moment.

Would I do it again if I had the opportunity? . . .

I also just remembered that I had an elephant step on me once. A story for another time . . .

[Eventually, swindlers tried to take over the management of the Temple and pushed the abbot aside, creating a tourist attraction. After their actions were discovered by the authorities, including abuse of the tigers, the temple was closed down and the tigers distributed to facilities where they could be properly cared for.]

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  1. Phil Turmel Inactive
    Phil Turmel
    @PhilTurmel

    Stad (View Comment):

    Susan Quinn: Have you ever had a moment when you realized that you made a decision to do something incredibly stupid and wondered if you had gone temporarily insane?

    My wife would claim it was me when I proposed, and her when she accepted . . .

    Awwww! Perfectly paired psychopathy! { Hi @neutralobserver ! }

     

    • #31
  2. Amy Schley, Longcat Shrinker Coolidge
    Amy Schley, Longcat Shrinker
    @AmySchley

    Susan Quinn (View Comment):

    Arahant (View Comment):

    They’re just big kitties.

    Yeah, right . . . ;-)

    Of course they are. The only difference is that if tigers were the size of housecats, we’d be the size of rabbits. If we were 50′ giants, we could think of tigers as cute and non-threatening as we do housecats. 

    • #32
  3. lowtech redneck Coolidge
    lowtech redneck
    @lowtech redneck

    Gossamer Cat (View Comment):

    Arahant (View Comment):

    Gossamer Cat (View Comment):
    There is a reason we have no domestic cat equivalent of the Great Dane!

    Except we sort of do. Do you know how many pet tigers there are in the US?

    Not a domestic cat by any means.

    There are Savannah cats, which can be the size of medium-sized dogs, but their breeding included domestic cats.

    Its not the size of the cat, its the capacity to domesticate (though size likely contributed to the domestication of their wild ancestors).  

    Arahant is both right and wrong; big cats and domestic cats raised in a similar environment exhibit markedly similar behaviors, but domestic cats are (generally speaking) restrained in exhibiting feline aggression against vulnerable humans, such as infants or toddlers, as well as broadly sensing how far they can go without seriously hurting humans.  Wild cats will always be at risk of exhibiting violent episodes of anger or panic towards humans, even the ones they love, and will tend to overestimate our resilience when being playful.

    • #33
  4. lowtech redneck Coolidge
    lowtech redneck
    @lowtech redneck

    Arahant (View Comment):

    Gossamer Cat (View Comment):

    Arahant (View Comment):

    Gossamer Cat (View Comment):
    There is a reason we have no domestic cat equivalent of the Great Dane!

    Except we sort of do. Do you know how many pet tigers there are in the US?

    Not a domestic cat by any means.

    Domestic cats aren’t really domestic, either.

    I’ll grant you they are generally considered ‘half-domesticated’, largely because they originally domesticated themselves.  The (adorable) abominations known as ragdoll cats could probably be considered fully domesticated, however.

    • #34
  5. CACrabtree Coolidge
    CACrabtree
    @CACrabtree

    thelonious (View Comment):

    Arahant (View Comment):

    Gossamer Cat (View Comment):
    There is a reason we have no domestic cat equivalent of the Great Dane!

    Except we sort of do. Do you know how many pet tigers there are in the US?

    I know Mike Tyson had one. The tiger was probably more scared of “Iron Mike” than Tyson was of the tiger.

    The doofus sitting behind Mike on that Jet Blue flight probably would have preferred a tiger.

    • #35
  6. Arahant Member
    Arahant
    @Arahant

    lowtech redneck (View Comment):
    but domestic cats are (generally speaking) restrained in exhibiting feline aggression against vulnerable humans, such as infants or toddlers, as well as broadly sensing how far they can go without seriously hurting humans.

    • #36
  7. CACrabtree Coolidge
    CACrabtree
    @CACrabtree

    When I saw that it was in Thailand I thought about several “trainers” there with crocodiles.  There are a number of Youtube links on this.

    https://youtu.be/E4MsfHDXXTQ

    • #37
  8. Flicker Coolidge
    Flicker
    @Flicker

    CACrabtree (View Comment):

    When I saw that it was in Thailand I thought about several “trainers” there with crocodiles. There are a number of Youtube links on this.

    https://youtu.be/E4MsfHDXXTQ

    I’m glad he was able to walk away.

    • #38
  9. CACrabtree Coolidge
    CACrabtree
    @CACrabtree

    Flicker (View Comment):

    CACrabtree (View Comment):

    When I saw that it was in Thailand I thought about several “trainers” there with crocodiles. There are a number of Youtube links on this.

    https://youtu.be/E4MsfHDXXTQ

    I’m glad he was able to walk away.

    I wouldn’t doubt it if there are a few that didn’t walk away…

    • #39
  10. DaveSchmidt Coolidge
    DaveSchmidt
    @DaveSchmidt

    TBA (View Comment):

    Jerry Giordano (Arizona Patrio… (View Comment):

    The last part of the post, regarding placement of the tigers in places where they can “be properly cared for,” gets me to thinking.

    It’s interesting to me that many people think that it’s worthwhile to expend resources caring for animals that, presumably, cannot survive in the wild. This is doubly odd when the animals are dangerous.

    I wonder whether people used to do such things in the past.

    It seems to me that resources are limited, and there are plenty of people in need. I have the impression that fairly large numbers of people care more about animals than they care about other people. This troubles me.

    There are many people who care more about animals than other people.

    And these folks are becoming more common every year.

    • #40
  11. Arahant Member
    Arahant
    @Arahant

    DaveSchmidt (View Comment):
    And these folks are becoming more common every year.

    I doubt it. They have always been with us.

    • #41
  12. Eustace C. Scrubb Member
    Eustace C. Scrubb
    @EustaceCScrubb

     

    I’d rather be with a cheetah (this one’s Jazz). If they’re frightened they respond with the flight rather than the fight response.

    • #42
  13. Eugene Kriegsmann Member
    Eugene Kriegsmann
    @EugeneKriegsmann

    Many years ago when I lived in Seattle, I was doing a laundry at a laundromat when a guy walked by outside with a baby cougar on a leash. I couldn’t keep from going out to see the cat. It was beautiful. I petted it and had exactly the same allergic reaction to it that I had experienced for years to domestic house cats. My eye swelled up, my breathing became difficult, and I was miserable. Apparently, all cats share a kind of dander that my immune system finds anathema.  I have always wanted to have close contact with a lion or a tiger, but I suspect that reaction would be the same. 

    A friend of mine who I taught with lived in the suburban town of Issaquah, east of Seattle raised cougar from a cub, and had it as a pet for many years. One day she, as was her wont, she went into its cage. The cat attacked her and nearly killed her. There has never been an explanation for the event other than that one should never expect a wild animal to act like a breed of animals that have been domesticated for thousands of years. A wild animal is unpredictable and should never be assumed to be “safe.”

    • #43
  14. Arahant Member
    Arahant
    @Arahant

    Eugene Kriegsmann (View Comment):
    I petted it and had exactly the same allergic reaction to it that I had experienced for years to domestic house cats.

    The cougar is the largest of the small cats. It is more closely related to the feline human owners than to tigers and lions. I have not been around the “big” cats enough to test my allergies.

    • #44
  15. lowtech redneck Coolidge
    lowtech redneck
    @lowtech redneck

    Arahant (View Comment):

    lowtech redneck (View Comment):
    but domestic cats are (generally speaking) restrained in exhibiting feline aggression against vulnerable humans, such as infants or toddlers, as well as broadly sensing how far they can go without seriously hurting humans.

    You should have seen my shredded arms when I carried the grumpy cat of a family friend across a neighborhood the size of a football field.  

    • #45
  16. The Reticulator Member
    The Reticulator
    @TheReticulator

    Arahant (View Comment):

    Jerry Giordano (Arizona Patrio… (View Comment):

    I wonder whether people used to do such things in the past.

    Yes, Jerry. History is full of recorded examples.

    Jerry Giordano (Arizona Patrio… (View Comment):

    It seems to me that resources are limited, and there are plenty of people in need. I have the impression that fairly large numbers of people care more about animals than they care about other people. This troubles me.

    Ever hear of a national leader who was anti-smoking and for animal rights, so much so that he was a strict vegetarian? His birthday was just a couple of days ago. Name slips my mind at the moment. Schicklegruber, perhaps.

    Not a strict vegetarian, but there are other leaders who care a lot about animals:

    After a long day of advertising colognesdiscovering classical amphorae underwater, and poisoning his rivals, Russian President Vladimir Putin likes nothing more than to get home and throw a slobbery frisbee for the domestic animal that lives in his house. Or, at least, that’s what we imagine.

    Canines are man’s best friend, and Putin is no exception.

    While the thought of Vladimir Putin rubbing dog pee out of a carpet is a little funny, the reality is that, alongside a mysterious aquadiskoteka, the president of Russia owns and has owned a long dynasty of dogs, who, we assume, are blissfully unaware of who their owner actually is. Notably, too, these have all been pretty large dogs, surprising in a country that gravitates towards smaller pooches.

    URL

    We have no information that Putin has poisoned any disobedient dogs.  

     

     

    • #46
  17. BDB Inactive
    BDB
    @BDB

    Jerry Giordano (Arizona Patrio… (View Comment):

    The last part of the post, regarding placement of the tigers in places where they can “be properly cared for,” gets me to thinking.

    It’s interesting to me that many people think that it’s worthwhile to expend resources caring for animals that, presumably, cannot survive in the wild. This is doubly odd when the animals are dangerous.

    I wonder whether people used to do such things in the past.

    It seems to me that resources are limited, and there are plenty of people in need. I have the impression that fairly large numbers of people care more about animals than they care about other people. This troubles me.

    It’s less troublesome than having do-gooders decide how we may allocate our resources. 

    • #47
  18. Hartmann von Aue Member
    Hartmann von Aue
    @HartmannvonAue

    Amy Schley, Longcat Shrinker (View Comment):

    Susan Quinn (View Comment):

    Arahant (View Comment):

    They’re just big kitties.

    Yeah, right . . . ;-)

    Of course they are. The only difference is that if tigers were the size of housecats, we’d be the size of rabbits. If we were 50′ giants, we could think of tigers as cute and non-threatening as we do housecats.

    One common nickname for cats around here is “Stubentiger”, i.e. “tigers of the living room.” 

    • #48
  19. Hartmann von Aue Member
    Hartmann von Aue
    @HartmannvonAue

    lowtech redneck (View Comment):

    Gossamer Cat (View Comment):

    Arahant (View Comment):

    Gossamer Cat (View Comment):
    There is a reason we have no domestic cat equivalent of the Great Dane!

    Except we sort of do. Do you know how many pet tigers there are in the US?

    Not a domestic cat by any means.

    There are Savannah cats, which can be the size of medium-sized dogs, but their breeding included domestic cats.

    Its not the size of the cat, its the capacity to domesticate (though size likely contributed to the domestication of their wild ancestors).

    Arahant is both right and wrong; big cats and domestic cats raised in a similar environment exhibit markedly similar behaviors, but domestic cats are (generally speaking) restrained in exhibiting feline aggression against vulnerable humans, such as infants or toddlers, as well as broadly sensing how far they can go without seriously hurting humans. Wild cats will always be at risk of exhibiting violent episodes of anger or panic towards humans, even the ones they love, and will tend to overestimate our resilience when being playful.

    Correct. Extensive training and caution are required to keep big cats safely. Lamentably, even the best-trained and experienced keepers of big cats can slip up leading to disaster, i.e. what happened to Roy Horn.

    • #49
  20. Annefy Member
    Annefy
    @Annefy

    Arahant (View Comment):

    DaveSchmidt (View Comment):
    And these folks are becoming more common every year.

    I doubt it. They have always been with us.

    They may have always been with us, but now they’re out and about with their dog in the shopping cart at Vons or Home Goods. Or on the plane.

    • #50
  21. Percival Thatcher
    Percival
    @Percival

    Arahant (View Comment):

    Eugene Kriegsmann (View Comment):
    I petted it and had exactly the same allergic reaction to it that I had experienced for years to domestic house cats.

    The cougar is the largest of the small cats. It is more closely related to the feline human owners than to tigers and lions. I have not been around the “big” cats enough to test my allergies.

    Trail cams keep picking them up in Illinois.

    • #51
  22. Arahant Member
    Arahant
    @Arahant

    Percival (View Comment):
    Trail cams keep picking them up in Illinois.

    Yeah, I remember this one from university. . .oh, wait. Never mind.

    • #52
  23. Quietpi Member
    Quietpi
    @Quietpi

    There was a little restaurant at the mouth of the small canyon where our college dorms were located.  A friend and I were going there once when we noticed a car parked near the door.  The only thing remarkable was who – or what – was sitting calmly in the front seat – a mountain lion (cougar/catamount / Felis concolor).  We approached the person we figured was the driver, and he confirmed that it was his car, and the cat belonged to him.  Or, as we know, he belonged to the cat.  The man said his friend was “just a big house cat,” very intelligent.  For instance, he said that when he got out of the car, he had told his passenger to move to the back seat.  We turned around, and sure enough, the cat was now sitting in the back.  

    The man said he takes his friend on walks every day, on a heavy leash.  The only issue is when a dog crosses their path.  Now, cougars hate dogs.  I didn’t get whether the cougar tried to go after the dog, or he tried to run away.  

    For all the time I lived, worked and hiked in the woods, I’ve only seen one cougar in the wild.  I reckon more than that saw me.  

    • #53
  24. Roderic Coolidge
    Roderic
    @rhfabian

    News of a zookeeper with long experience with tigers being attacked and killed by one occasionally surfaces.  One fellow experienced with these cats said that the proper way to think of tigers is that they never regard humans as anything other than a meat meal.  You never know when they’ll turn on you.  Stepping into a cage with them is fraught with risk.  

    • #54
  25. David Carroll Thatcher
    David Carroll
    @DavidCarroll

    The only tiger I am willing to play with is Tiger Woods.  In golf.  Because he could teach me so much.  And it would be fun to watch him get frustrated at my ineptitude.

    • #55
  26. Skyler Coolidge
    Skyler
    @Skyler

    Arahant (View Comment):

    Hartmann von Aue (View Comment):
    I understand that cheetahs can be tamed, and that records of humans taming them go back to Ancient Egypt.

    woman walking cheetah - Google Search | Weird vintage ...

    And the Ancient Egyptians are all dead now.  Must have been eaten by Cheetahs.

    • #56
  27. Skyler Coolidge
    Skyler
    @Skyler

    lowtech redneck (View Comment):

    Arahant (View Comment):

    lowtech redneck (View Comment):
    but domestic cats are (generally speaking) restrained in exhibiting feline aggression against vulnerable humans, such as infants or toddlers, as well as broadly sensing how far they can go without seriously hurting humans.

    You should have seen my shredded arms when I carried the grumpy cat of a family friend across a neighborhood the size of a football field.

    Why would anyone ever do that?

    • #57
  28. Amy Schley, Longcat Shrinker Coolidge
    Amy Schley, Longcat Shrinker
    @AmySchley

    Skyler (View Comment):
    And the Ancient Egyptians are all dead now.  Must have been eaten by Cheetahs.

    Highly doubtful. Cheetahs are so neurotic they need emotional support dogs. 

    Seriously. 

    https://www.unilad.co.uk/animals/the-reason-cheetahs-need-emotional-support-dogs

    • #58
  29. Eustace C. Scrubb Member
    Eustace C. Scrubb
    @EustaceCScrubb

    My kids with a leopard cub, taken a couple of decades ago.

     

    • #59
  30. Arahant Member
    Arahant
    @Arahant

    Eustace C. Scrubb (View Comment):

    My kids with a leopard cub, taken a couple of decades ago.

     

    “We used to have three kids. . .”

    • #60
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