|
|
|
Chippewa
SFN Regular
USA
1496 Posts |
 Posted - 12/31/2005 : 12:55:35 [Permalink]
|
| I think I'm getting it....it might be working....then again, the meaning of this is hard to understand........................... |
 |
|
|
Dude
SFN Die Hard
USA
6891 Posts |
Posted - 12/31/2005 : 14:46:27 [Permalink]
|
quote:
Anyway, looked to me like it managed to chew him up pretty good with its tender mercies.
Common sense should be enough to tell you that if a 700lb tiger means you harm, and you are in it's teeth.... that your chances of surviving are minimal.
Which is the problem with keeping large predators as pets. A playfull swat from the housecat leaves you with a tiny scratch... from the 700lb tiger the same thing leaves you maimed.
The 10lb housecat with murderous intent can slice you up pretty bad (in a minor way). The 700lb cat with the same intent...
|
Ignorance is preferable to error; and he is less remote from the truth who believes nothing, than he who believes what is wrong.
-- Thomas Jefferson
"god :: the last refuge of a man with no answers and no argument." - G. Carlin
Hope, n.
The handmaiden of desperation; the opiate of despair; the illegible signpost on the road to perdition. ~~ da filth |
|
|
|
|
H. Humbert
SFN Die Hard
USA
4574 Posts |
Posted - 12/31/2005 : 14:52:29 [Permalink]
|
quote:
Originally posted by Dude
Off topic.... but the large cat in question didn't "attack" anyone. The magician in question fell down in the presence of the cat, and the cat picked him up (as it would one of its own kittens) and moved him to protect him. (atleast as I recall hearing the story from the non-maimed member of the duo)
I heard that version of events as well, but I also realized that the magician was probably consciously trying to shift blame away from cat, who would normally be destroyed. Tigers are expensive, and considering the amount of time he spend training the cat it is likely he felt some attachment to it. And like any trainer, I'm sure he blamed himself to some degree that an animal under his charge attacked. So while the "the tiger was just protecting him" story is semi-plausible, I'm not sure I really buy it. It looked to me like just a bid to spare the tiger's life. It was something that would play well to the press.
quote:
Large cats can be tame members of your family, just as a housecat can be. And, if anyone has (or has ever had) a cat, you know well that they are moody, prone to letting you know when you irritate them (small bites and swats, not intended to harm but warn you off) and so on. Same for the larger cats.... just that a warning swat from a adult tiger is of more consequence than from your domestic cat.
It is very possible you know more about this subject than I do, but a few TV specials on animal trainers had led me to believe otherwise. I saw one man who trained tigers for films. He said there is never any way to "tame" a tiger. They will always be wild animals. And he wasn't one of those old school whip-and-chair trainers, this was a guy who would wrestle with these huge animals bare-handed and stuff. But he said that if you fall or are wounded, a tiger's natural instincts will kick in. They can sense weakness, and what begins as playful roughhousing can turn deadly in a hurry. He said it is of the upmost importance to never show pain, to never allow the tiger to think its in control. You constantly need to reassert your dominance over the animal. When they were wrestling, he had to slap the tiger on its nose a fews times when it got a little too rough or became a bit over-excited.
I think the likeliest scenario is one where the magician falls and the tiger just attacks out of instinct. The tiger probably also didn't mean to kill him in any thinking sense, so once he released his grip, the tiger "knew it done wrong" and slunk off to it's cage with its tail between its legs the same way a dog might sulk away after it pisses the rug.
|
"A man is his own easiest dupe, for what he wishes to be true he generally believes to be true." --Demosthenes
"The first principle is that you must not fool yourself - and you are the easiest person to fool." --Richard P. Feynman
"Face facts with dignity." --found inside a fortune cookie |
| Edited by - H. Humbert on 12/31/2005 15:07:01 |
|
|
|
ronnywhite
SFN Regular
501 Posts |
Posted - 12/31/2005 : 16:58:26 [Permalink]
|
quote:
Originally posted by Dude
Common sense should be enough to tell you that if a 700lb tiger means you harm...
Yeah, you might be right. I think HH suggestions make a lot of sense, too. It's an inherently dangerous activity, just like jumping motorcycles over things, boxing, etc. which is why it drew the big crowds, and found a place in Vegas to begin with. Such people take their chances... they did for a long time, and certainly mainly due to skill and professionalism, and partially due to being lucky, too- they hadn't had a major problem before then. But Murphy's always lurking just around the corner from those folks. That's part of the reason they're paid the big, big money they make. "There's no free lunch." |
Ron White |
|
|
|
Dude
SFN Die Hard
USA
6891 Posts |
Posted - 01/07/2006 : 15:59:21 [Permalink]
|
quote:
It is very possible you know more about this subject than I do, but a few TV specials on animal trainers had led me to believe otherwise. I saw one man who trained tigers for films. He said there is never any way to "tame" a tiger. They will always be wild animals.
Cats squabble among themselves all the time. If you have ever had two housecats you know that they love to play, and they play rough with each other. Sometimes it can lead to more serious confrontations.
But as said, with a housecat, there is never a question between you and it who is in charge. They know you are far larger. Not so with the big cats.
Dangerous pets, to say the least. I have seen video of a lion attacking, with intent to kill, a human. The guy didn't last 10 seconds.
Which is why I hesitate to conclude that the cat in question here had deadly intent.
|
Ignorance is preferable to error; and he is less remote from the truth who believes nothing, than he who believes what is wrong.
-- Thomas Jefferson
"god :: the last refuge of a man with no answers and no argument." - G. Carlin
Hope, n.
The handmaiden of desperation; the opiate of despair; the illegible signpost on the road to perdition. ~~ da filth |
|
|
|
|
Hawks
SFN Regular
Canada
1383 Posts |
Posted - 01/07/2006 : 16:15:39 [Permalink]
|
| The best way to appear invisible is generally to crawl up your won arse. Do it far enough and you will disappear and thus be invisible. |
METHINKS IT IS LIKE A WEASEL
It's a small, off-duty czechoslovakian traffic warden! |
|
|
|
filthy
SFN Die Hard
USA
14408 Posts |
Posted - 01/07/2006 : 17:58:43 [Permalink]
|
Arguably, Roy Horne is, or at least was, the best big cat trainer ever.
The cat was just being a cat. Roy stumbled and Manticore's instinct kicked in, and then, fortunatly, the training came back. Thus, the mauling -- that's what it was, a mauling -- was relativly minor as compared to what it might have been.
Anyone competant who deals with dangerous wildlife understands the risks that an accident or carelessness can produce. It's been many years since I've taken a show-off chance with a hot snake, but still I've recieved bites. Miscalculations and/or bad luck.
But Horne's incident suprised me and a lot of other people for the simple reason that he was just so damned good at it. The lesson we take from it is: no matter how good you are, at any enterprise really, you'll never be good enough.
|
"What luck for rulers that men do not think." -- Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945)
"If only we could impeach on the basis of criminal stupidity, 90% of the Rethuglicans and half of the Democrats would be thrown out of office." ~~ P.Z. Myres
"The default position of human nature is to punch the other guy in the face and take his stuff." ~~ Dude
Brother Boot Knife of Warm Humanitarianism,
and Crypto-Communist! 
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
Topic Locked
