Exotic Pets.

DEFTLEFTHAND

I watched a documentary on Thursday about people who keep big cats. It got me thinking is there an exotic pet trade in Ireland.

Tbh I'd love to own a big cat if I had the means to do so. The people in the doc stated that they've the same personality as a normal domestic cat and can be tamed from birth just as easily. The thing that one of the chaps did mention was to always show dominance, they respect the dominant male.

The biggest trill for me was seeing a 50 stone (yes 50 bloody stone they can get that big) male Siberian Tiger roll over for tickles. The Siberian imo is the most beautiful animal on this planet.

jill_valentine

There is. I have a hunch it's a trade at its liveliest around the border regions, and I have a hunch that it's not unrelated to the sightings of mysterious big black cats up north.

My dad used to know an incredibly shady farmer-slash-something-else-that-was-left-curiously-vague guy with a pet wolf. Honest to god wolf, just strolling around the house like that was absolutely fine and normal and not at all going to end in an inevitable eating.

The thing was absolutely massive. My two key memories of it are a) Wolf fur is not nearly as soft as I expected, and b) For some reason, Irish language names don't really fit wolves.

Canis Lupus

I think regardless of how you bring an animal up if it's big enough to view you as a snack then it's frankly not worth the danger of having it as a pet.

DEFTLEFTHAND

jill_valentine wrote: »

There is. I have a hunch it's a trade at its liveliest around the border regions, and I have a hunch that it's not unrelated to the sightings of mysterious big black cats up north.

My dad used to know an incredibly shady farmer-slash-something-else-that-was-left-curiously-vague guy with a pet wolf. Honest to god wolf, just strolling around the house like that was absolutely fine and normal and not at all going to end in an inevitable eating.

The thing was absolutely massive. My two key memories of it are a) Wolf fur is not nearly as soft as I expected, and b) For some reason, Irish language names don't really fit wolves.

I've seen dogs crossed with wolves before. I suppose its the same with cats the species can be domesticated. Even a pure breed wolf could be I'd imagine if a Siberian tiger can be.

Ghandee

While not exotic as such, but definitely a viscous animal.

When I was growing up, the head master tamed, and reared a badger.

Haven't seen nor heard of anyone doing it since.

Chinasea

This scares me and it has nothing whatsoever to the possible ferocity of the poor animals in captivity in a domestic capacity.

You just need to look at the hideous shameful amount of abandoned animal’s i.e. unwanted pets in our pounds nationwide and get the measure of the nation’s attitude and lack of responsibility towards these helpless creatures, coupled with a lax implementation of animal welfare.

Many of these poor animals too would end up here (if they were lucky) adding to the overload. Bad whimsical irresponsibility, especially with a national track record like ours.

Sunnyisland

This chap had them in his garage...

He gained notoriety during the 1990s when officers found two wild cats - a jaguar and a serval - in his Ballyfermot home. He was using the animals to intimidate anyone who owed him money. He was convicted of animal cruelty and sentenced to 3 months in prison...

IvySlayer

DEFTLEFTHAND wrote: »

I've seen dogs crossed with wolves before. I suppose its the same with cats the species can be domesticated. Even a pure breed wolf could be I'd imagine if a Siberian tiger can be.

It took hundreds of years to domesticate dogs to be pets. I don't think the big cats will ever be domesticated, they are just too powerful to handle and getting rarer. One disagreement with your pet, you're dead. Tigers are solitary animals, maybe more chance with a lion.

Siegfried and Roy work and train with tigers every day and one of them still got mauled.

DEFTLEFTHAND

IvySlayer wrote: »

It took hundreds of years to domesticate dogs to be pets. I don't think the big cats will ever be domesticated, they are just too powerful to handle and getting rarer. One disagreement with your pet, you're dead. Tigers are solitary animals, maybe more chance with a lion.

Siegfried and Roy work and train with tigers every day and one of them still got mauled.

A domestic house cat can attack you also, but obviously they don't have the power to cause fatal damage, remember cats like to play as well and can often unintentionally inflict harm. They broached this topic in the doc and the formula suggested was to show dominance over the cat. Lions for instance live in Prides and will respect the Pride leader. Tiger's although solitary animals also respect a dominant male. A female big cat especially will always become submissive to a male.

mattjack

jill_valentine wrote: »

There is. I have a hunch it's a trade at its liveliest around the border regions, and I have a hunch that it's not unrelated to the sightings of mysterious big black cats up north.

My dad used to know an incredibly shady farmer-slash-something-else-that-was-left-curiously-vague guy with a pet wolf. Honest to god wolf, just strolling around the house like that was absolutely fine and normal and not at all going to end in an inevitable eating.

The thing was absolutely massive. My two key memories of it are a) Wolf fur is not nearly as soft as I expected, and b) For some reason, Irish language names don't really fit wolves.

Two hunchs eh ? you could be the Hunch back of Valentine.

IvySlayer

DEFTLEFTHAND wrote: »

A domestic house cat can attack you also, but obviously they don't have the power to cause fatal damage, remember cats like to play as well and can often unintentionally inflict harm. They broached this topic in the doc and the formula suggested was to show dominance over the cat. Lions for instance live in Prides and will respect the Pride leader. Tiger's although solitary animals also respect a dominant male. A female big cat especially will always become submissive to a male.

True, my cat swats me if I annoy him, I'll survive though. And I could just shoo him away with my foot. A big cat could kill you even though it didn't mean too.

You're right about dominance, how do you be dominant over a cat that could kill you in 2 seconds? I don't fancy carrying a whip or a gun everywhere. A Pride Leader gets changed on average once every 2 years.

Tigers fight until one surrenders or dies. Lions fight a lot, especially during feeding.

Dr Turk Turkelton

Chinasea wrote: »

This scares me and it has nothing whatsoever to the possible ferocity of the poor animals in captivity in a domestic capacity.

You just need to look at the hideous shameful amount of abandoned animal’s i.e. unwanted pets in our pounds nationwide and get the measure of the nation’s attitude and lack of responsibility towards these helpless creatures, coupled with a lax implementation of animal welfare.

Many of these poor animals too would end up here (if they were lucky) adding to the overload. Bad whimsical irresponsibility, especially with a national track record like ours.

I cant imagine too many Siberian Tigers or Wolves in a pound in Ireland tbh.

starbelgrade

There's a joke in there somewhere about massive pussys & erotic pets.

Wibbs

Canis Lupus wrote: »

I think regardless of how you bring an animal up if it's big enough to view you as a snack then it's frankly not worth the danger of having it as a pet.

Good username considering.

IvySlayer wrote: »

It took hundreds of years to domesticate dogs to be pets.

More than that Ivy, more like tens of thousands of years. People have tried to keep tame wolves but with lots of problems. Domestication(among other things) has turned dogs into juvenile wolves. Dogs never grow up as it were, wolves do and that's where the problems kick off. They won't housebreak, don't like being indoors are mad destructive and hyper and very nervous. It was fashionable a few times in European history. A couple of Roman emperors had tame wolves(big symbol of Rome), a few aristocrat types had them later on. In 19th century Europe it was fashionable for a time to try tame them(and everything else) and some did have some success with the European wolf. Not as a housedog mind you. Very risky too. Way stronger than your average dog with a much stronger bite. A pitbull would last seconds against even an immature one. Very few dog breeds would stand much of a chance against a full grown male. Then again the early breeding lines for German shepherds had wolf in them. Some current official breeds like saarlous, czech and lupo italiano wolfhounds have wolf in their recent past, but again are a handful compared to your average dog. Apparently they make the best trackers of any breeds including bloodhounds.

Luckily the vast majority of so called "wolves" people claim to have are husky crosses and the like. Most people can't tell the diff, so the stories continue. Even in films and TV they very rarely use the real deal. Too much of a handful, potentially dangerous and not exactly trainable. Basically if it's wandering around the house like a dog, it's not a wolf. Plus how would anyone get their hands on the real deal in Ireland? Back in the day when you could buy lion cubs through Harrods in London, maybe, but today? People living in say eastern Europe might be able to get one, if they found a pup in the wild or something, but talk about a rare event.

My uncle had a tame fox when I was growing up. It was OK actually. Quite a friendly little thing, with kids anyway, it was mistrustful of adults. It would try to lick your face off. Hyper though.

Big cats would be a nightmare. You might tame one, but that's not the same as domestication. One big cat that was partially domesticated was the cheetah in India(used like a hunting dog), but they're much smaller and far less dangerous than something like a tiger.

AnonoBoy

"Nice marmot!"

morton

I thought I had an exotic pet when I was a kid. I had a Blackmore fish, you know the small squashy fish with bulging eyes. I thought it was cool owning a black GOLDfish!

Also I thought my brothers gerbil was an endangered species. This vegetarian rodent had a taste for blood and would savage my hand every time I chanced taking him out of the cage without my brother knowing.

On a serious note, never own a pet regardless of how exotic, if your head can fit in their mouth. As for tickling a Siberian tiger on the belly - he's just luring you in .

Pherekydes

I have a pet anaconda and six capybaras. Wait, make that five capybaras...

IvySlayer

Wibbs wrote: »

Essay

Yes, and the fact we had a symbiotic relationship with them. Hunting, protection, warmth, transport, social. I'd imagine if it were possible with big cats it would have been done.

Dogs would help us hunt and eat the scraps, a big cat would maul you and take the carcass I'd say...

steddyeddy

DEFTLEFTHAND wrote: »

I watched a documentary on Thursday about people who keep big cats. It got me thinking is there an exotic pet trade in Ireland.

Tbh I'd love to own a big cat if I had the means to do so. The people in the doc stated that they've the same personality as a normal domestic cat and can be tamed from birth just as easily. The thing that one of the chaps did mention was to always show dominance, they respect the dominant male.

The biggest trill for me was seeing a 50 stone (yes 50 bloody stone they can get that big) male Siberian Tiger roll over for tickles. The Siberian imo is the most beautiful animal on this planet.

Yes there is indeed. In my view though theres no point in having a aggressive animal around the house if you can get mauled once in a while! No sympathy for those who get aggressive animals and get mauled by them!

BillyMitchel

starbelgrade wrote: »

There's a joke in there somewhere about massive pussys & erotic pets.

Like my big elephant knob?!