fatal attractions----animal planet

                                              No......its  not  the  name  of  a  james  bond  movie  or a crime thriller  .  Its  a series  of real life  incidents  shown in the  animal planet  television channel  .  Each of  the episode shows  real life  incidents when people  who kept  wild animals  as pets were  killed  by their "pets  "   .  Its  a must watch if  you  like  me are  intrigued  by  human animal interaction especially  when that interaction is between  a  "big pet  " like  lion,tiger  etc  . And  some episodes  show  also  show  wild animals being reared  successfully without serious incidents  sometimes  for  as long as fourty  years  . 

                                        I  am unlikely  going  to  have a lion  or tiger as a  pet  (not because  it is dangerous )  but  because  it is  a  very  responsible  job unlike  rearing a domestic cat or  dog  .  Nonetheless watching these episodes  made me think  about  whether  humans  or animals are  more dangerous  .  On  one  hand  we  have  these  lions  and tigers  which are  genetically  programmed  to kill  and maim  feeding from the owners hand  ,  cuddling upto them  etc  and  occasionally  ends  with  an adverse  incident  when  some  golden rules  of interaction are broken  .  And on the  other  hand we  have  young  teenage  humans coming  up  with  guns  and opening  fire  and killing  dozens  of  fellow classmates  in U.S  and  europe  .  Not to speak of the  wars with and without reason killing  millions of people .

                                                             One  of the episodes showed the  actor in tarzan movie  living with many tigers at his  home  .  He  is seen swimming with them  , feeding them by hand etc  . His life  was  saved by a lion  during  a massive fire at the  film set  where he was working and from that day  he is  having many big cats  as pets  . For  last 40 years  there was  never  a  problem with them and asked whether he is not scared of them he replied  he doesnt mind even if he gets killed  by them as  he owes his life  to them  .

                                       Also shown is  a person having  a large bengal tiger as pet for many years  .  He was a vietnam war veteran  who  had  post traumatic stress disorder  after  his  war  years  . He  says the unconditional love  of the tiger  pet  gives him significant relief from his PTSD  . 

Then todays episode  , there was a  lady  who  was  abandoned  by her mother  ,  had a divorce   once  who remarried  and her husband died after a few months  living alone  in Oregon with  no neighbours nearby  . 

She feeds  bears  and  is shown handfeeding them  which are four times her size  .  She didnt get  injured  or killed  but  got a prison sentence for feeding  the bears ....  and endangering public safety  . 

The authorities  are  right  ..... she  should be punished  for being kind to wild animals  ... but  we  as a society  as long as we dont have answers to peoples  problems  , do we  have the  right  to act as  policemen to  peoples  love  for  "dangerous " animals who give  unconditional love  ?

.......And  for the record  .... search  tiger temple of thailand  , born free  and many  others  to  find  that  even lion -tiger  human-pet  attraction  need not end  fatally  .....