treechiron

Monday, March 1, 2010 @ 7:02 PM

Most Bizarre House Pets

In 2009's smash comedy The Hangover, the drug-addled protagonists make off with boxer Mike Tyson's pet tiger. It's a hilarious vignette--and funnier still when you consider how many people in the real world in fact keep tigers, and all sorts of other unlikely beasts, as pets.

While only 3,500 tigers still roam the wild, Americans now own a staggering 10,000 of them. The heart of captive tiger country is Texas, where some 5,000 big cats live in backyards, cages and, gulp!, open ranches--no permits required. For all their majesty, tigers sell for a song: A young cub in good health can be had for the cost of a purebred dog, about $1,000, though "the meat bill is big," says Christopher Cutter, spokesman for the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW). That's why tiger owners often cut deals on road kill with highway patrol. Then there's tiger insurance, for which Tyson has been known to pay $1,100 a month.

It's downright shocking the lengths to which some humans will go for companionship. "People own pretty much anything you can imagine," says Cutter, who stresses that the IFAW does not condone domesticating large carnivores. "I'm not sure what makes them do it, but you can get a hold of just about any animal these days and people do."

More inconceivably, they let the animals breed. Last year New Jersey authorities called in the IFAW to help confiscate 24 tigers from a woman raising them in a suburban home. The great cats lived in a mishmash of shipping containers, industrial fencing and plywood behind the house. A year before that, the IFAW found a Nevada man keeping six tigers and a cheetah.

Click here for full Article.

When I first watched The Jungle Book as a child, I remember thinking to myself "This would be so cool!" The very idea of having those fearsome and awe inspiring beasts truly intrigued me. Unfortunately, my mother said "No" to me having a grizzly bear... or a snake.

Childhood fantasies aside, this news is something that inspire ambiguity in me. I'm glad that there are people out there who understand and appreciate the beauty of these animals and are providing them a comfortable - in some cases anyway - home and the chance to breed without having gawking visitors.

At the same time, I am forced to wonder if these people are truly concerned about these majestic wonders or is it simply an attempt at advertising their social status? After all a man's ego can be as deep as his pockets.

Arifah

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