This morning, I came across a video on MSN with the headline, “don’t try this in a couple of years” and teaser, “visitors at a Japanese safari park get up close & personal with lions, & it’s safe — for now.” A screenshot displays a toddler posing with a lion cub.
I’ve written a few posts now focusing on the issue of interaction between humans and exotic animals. Around the same time I launched this blog, I visited Big Cat Rescue, an accredited sanctuary that doesn’t allow interaction with cats and encourages visitors to avoid venues that do. So obviously, this video piqued my interest.
While adorable lion cubs roll around on screen, a narrator explains that at this park, which is located near Tokyo, visitors are allowed to play with the cubs, who were born in March. Zookeepers claim that until the cubs are 3-months-old, it’s safe for humans to play with them. Then, a man wearing a lion hat says (with translation in voiceover) that he would love to raise a lion cub, except that it’d be too expensive to feed one. We then see his son in the background, petting the cute little cubs.
Don’t get me wrong, I was completely enamored by the site of the baby lions, too. They look downright cuddly. But I’m curious about the effect that this environment has on them. Apparently, when they’re old enough to start fending for themselves, they’ll join the rest of the lion pride at the park. I feel as though being exposed to crowds of people petting them and snapping photos of them on a regular basis has to influence the cubs’ behavior in some way. And “safe” is a little vague. Safe for who, exactly? From the testimony given in the video, it appears as though allowing visitors to “get up close and personal” with the cats gives people the false impression that the exotic cats could be treated as pets, rather than as the wild animals that they are.
This fact sheet, created by Big Cat Rescue, reveals additional issues with cub handling, including:
- Health risk for cubs: Cubs are most vulnerable to disease transmission from birth to 12 weeks.
- Health risk for humans: When young animals experience high levels of stress, they are more likely to “shed pathogens.” Humans are at risk of getting bacterial infections, ringworm, E. coli, Toxoplasmosis, Staphylococcus, and Streptococcus as a result of bites and scratches or kids sticking their fingers in their mouths after petting the cubs.
BCR reports that in the U.S., there is a “4 week gap” where the public can handle big cat cubs — when they’re between the ages of 8 weeks and 12 weeks. Policy enacted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) maintains that “tiger cubs under 8 weeks are too young for public exhibition and cubs over 12 weeks are too dangerous for public exposure.” However, BCR proposes imposing stricter policies and methods of enforcement to end the practice of big cat cub handling altogether.
Therefore, I don’t think “don’t try this in a couple of years” is a sufficient disclaimer for the above-mentioned video. How about: Don’t try this, ever.
Law of the Jungle 
In South Africa there is a huge canned hunting industry. Lions are bred in captivity only to be shot later in a confined space 😥 Often these lions are initially used as a tourist attraction where they can be “petted”. We strongly discourage the practice of playing with lion cubs, as it sends out the wrong message.
All the best,
Emy