Never Trust A Tiger

Private owners often put big cats in even more stressful environments. Backyards — let alone cages or apartments — are terribly claustrophobic for tigers. "What do you do if it's sick?" asks Lattis. "What if you get tired of it? It's a selfish, self-centered way of treating animals." Along with other conservationists, he dismisses the notion that tiger owners are somehow saving an endangered species. "These animals are never going to be returned to the wild, and they couldn't survive there anyway. Conservation isn't simply about having more tigers. It's about having more tigers in their natural environment."

People who own tigers feel differently. Yates said, "He's like my brother, my best friend, my only friend really." A professional handler like Fischbacher presumably has a more realistic view of the big cats. Still, he insisted on Good Morning America last week that the tiger Montecore did not really mean to attack Horn, who suffered a stroke after the incident and remains in critical condition. Montecore, insists his owner, thought Horn was in trouble and used a little excessive force in helping out a buddy. Even if that is true — and plenty of animal-behavior experts would dispute it — the fact remains that every tiger is a potential killer. As long as people insist on owning them, both the big cats and those who profess to love them will continue to pay a terrible price.