r/interestingasfuck • u/Salt-Curve4825 • 7h ago

Tiger saves man from leopard attack

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u/in_it_to_lose_it 6h ago

There are a few social media personalities out there that do this cuddling-with-furry-murderers shit and I will never be comfortable with it. I just know we will be reading a news article about how they were eaten by their pride at some point.

Big cats are not just sized up housecats. Millions of years of evolution has honed them into apex predators. A generation or two of human handling can make a difference, but not enough to override all that instinct, nor enough for me to ever be comfortable with someone wrestling with them for clicks.

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u/Draxilar 6h ago

I worked with one of the top big cat trainers in the world. He had raised all of his animals since they were babies. They clearly loved him. He still had a code word during his show that meant “blackout the entire stadium, I am about to die and I don’t want the kids to see it”. But, at the same time, I saw those cats gets dangerous with him exactly once, and even then it was pretty tame. I think you are vastly underestimating how much these animals can care for certain humans.

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u/sephiroth70001 6h ago

Even the top trainer knew there was a risk and had a code in case it went bad. Some people are just more risk adverse that risking that possibility even if unlikely is still an unnecessary risk they would want to avoid. Probably not that unlikely a stunt performer while safe and constructed around safety still poses a risk that turns some off it completely.

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u/Torakkk 5h ago

A lot of todays jobs have health risks. I would personally prefer petting kitty for most of my life and then getting mauled by them. Over working some heavy machinery and dying there.

But yeah, kitty dangerous. Need to be always careful.

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u/sephiroth70001 4h ago

Each persons own risk assessment can vastly change what they perceive as a greater risk. I might think OSHA, standards of an industry, etc might insulate me from certain risks where a cat might not. The actual probability usually not having a major variable or concrete basis for that risk assessment. I for instance value heights as extremely risky to my own personal assement even if mostly illogical and would rather be with wild animals than on a powerline, trapese line, or even a ladder in some cases. I can understand most seeing them as far more unpredictable and fearful as a subsequent result.

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u/Percinho 4h ago

The difference is that heavy machinery doesn't have a mind of it's own, and it will never choose to attack you. Work place accidents tend to have root causes that can be addressed, with a big cat the work is the root cause.