KITTY!

[Blueberry]

While I was reading this my tiny little 5 pound house cat is sitting next to me.
Although she is maybe 1% of big kitty's size, she would have been 900% less charming.
I only wish she was so sociable. She would have taken off that cop's hand.

[Reyneth]

wow, isn't it illegal to own a mountain lion, or any other animal that is consideres 'wild', I mean maybe the guy had a permit or worked at a shelter or zoo, but really? Why take a mountain lion out in public?

I'm reading Terri Irwin's biography of Steve, (which also is an autobiography of sorts) and before they met, she had a cougar/other wild animal rescue program going on all because she saved a kitten from some jerk who was selling them for $1,300 a pop and was horribly mistreating them. When she first saw the baby, she called the authorities - and no, if they were bred domestically, it is not illegal to have a cougar as a pet! So she went back and saved that baby and things snowballed from there.

[XCashier]

I'd love to have a moutain lion or a tiger. Of couse I never will but I just think it would be great to have one to cuddle.

Out of Africa Wildlife Park in Arizona used to have cub petting sessions (I don't know if they still do, I haven't been there since before they moved to Camp Verde). They'd make the visitors sanitize their hands, then bring around various young cubs -- cougar, lynx, bobcat, etc. -- for people to pet. It was interesting, interacting with these beautiful animals.

[BookstoreEscapee]

Wild animals rarely, if ever at all, make good "pets".

I was watching something on the History channel recently (it kind of goes over stuff like Bigfoot and all those other legendary beasts) and one episode was about a large black cat. There really are not any large black cats (I'm talking like mountain lions, cougars, etc) in the US. They were trying to prove/disprove if there are.

Monster Quest...interesting show. The first episode was about giant squid. I've watched snippets here and there but I didn't see that one. Last one I saw was about giant birds.

[Retail Associate]

Out of Africa Wildlife Park used to have cub petting sessions ...then bring around various young cubs -- cougar, lynx, bobcat, etc. -- for people to pet...

Sounds like Heaven to me. I've always thought cougars have the most beautiful faces of all the larger cats. Tigers do, too.

I like to watch the series "Growing Up _____" on Animal Planet. One of the shows was "Growing Up Tiger." A couple raised two tiger cubs, a male named Sarge and his sister Lily, until they were old enough to be brought to a refuge. It was wonderful watching those cubs mature into majestic creatures. Made me wish I could do that. It's amazing how much like kitties they are in their behavior...when they're little cubs that is.

.

[myswtghst]

When I was working as a zookeeper, I got to pet a tigress. Granted, she was seriously knocked out so we could do an ultrasound and see her unborn kitties, and Kendra (the tiger) was a serious PITA while awake, but still. It was a cool thing to be able to say I've done.

We have a number of relatively large forest preserves near us, so we get plenty of the usual beasties - coons, deer, etc. We also have at least two coyotes in our area that are out and about from time to time - my mom's dog, Sunny, the 95-lb lab, often leaves toys in the yard, including stinky real bones that mom won't let her have in the house. This would be how I saw the coyote up close and in person, chilling on our back porch, working away at a bone. We've also seen them, at a distance, when Sunny and I were walking the neighborhood at night, and I've seen them running around on campus at my work when I'm leaving at midnight/2am (work is only a few miles from the parents, with a lot of that forest preserve land in between). Makes me smile when I see them.

[Mark Healey]

Wild animals rarely, if ever at all, make good "pets".

I was watching something on the History channel recently (it kind of goes over stuff like Bigfoot and all those other legendary beasts) and one episode was about a large black cat. There really are not any large black cats (I'm talking like mountain lions, cougars, etc) in the US. They were trying to prove/disprove if there are.

There might be. "Panthers" are just black leopards. It is a single recessive gene that makes them black if they get it from both parents. It happens in jaguars too, so it might happen to mountain lions.

[Lingering Grin]

There might be. "Panthers" are just black leopards. It is a single recessive gene that makes them black if they get it from both parents. It happens in jaguars too, so it might happen to mountain lions.

Panther's can be tan, white, or spotted too

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_panther

[Pagan]

Although it's rare, jaguars have been sighted in southern New Mexico! People don't realize how far north their range can be. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaguar

[ArenaBoy]

My parents are friends with some old neighbors who moved out to one of the Dakotas (Can't remember which.) They live near the mountains and have mountain lions out roaming around at night. Says as soon as the sun sets he lets his dog out and gets him back in and makes sure that their daughter stays inside. The town sometimes hunts the lions to control their numbers.

[Sliceanddice]

he sounds like a handler or a foster parent