Go ![]() | New ![]() | Find ![]() | Notify ![]() | Tools ![]() | Reply ![]() | ![]() |
One of Us |
In the past, I have read that leopards cannot ever be trusted around people (like a cheetah can...even so, I know that no wild animals can be trusted totally) even if the leopard was raised by humans as a kitten. I have seen documentarys etc, where cheetah and lions have lived in people's homes and walked freely around the house/farm with their human owners, much like a dog would. I have never seen nor heard about this with leopards. I have done alot of research on leopards, and I have also spoken to a big-cat trainer/biologist about this subject, and he related that leopards are just too high-strung and aggressive to be around people. He also added that leopards have a higher degree of "killer instinct" within them than other big cats, and that leopards are just plain "nasty" in nature. I would like to hear some comments from those of you who have spent some time with captive leopards....something to talk about on a boring Sunday afternoon!! | ||
|
One of Us |
I visited several times at a mans place where he had a black leopard in a fairly large enclosure/cage. When I was by myself it paid little attention to me. BUT when I took my seven year old daughter it would slink down against the outer wire and flow along the ground with us as we walked, never taking its eyes off my daughter. Freaked me out. I warned him if it ever escaped it would kill the first child it saw. He got rid of it soon after. troy Birmingham, Al | |||
|
One of Us |
I knew a fellow who kept a mountain lion as a pet -- even friendly w. strangers. Based off the almost clone-line level of genetic variation in cheetahs, I wouldn't be all that surprised if they were domesticated at one time -- it's just very, very unusual for a wild animal to have that little variation. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor. | |||
|
one of us![]() |
A few people kept Leopards as pets in India in the old days and I used to know of an African Leopard that was kept as a pet in Hoedspruit....although it was always a bit loopy. Aglifter, Cheetahs have been kept as pets for hundreds of years and still are. I know of one lodge that has a pet one that'll come and lay across your lap when you sit by the fire in winter...... purrs like a domestic cat on steroids.. | |||
|
One of Us |
My father was a Marine in Nicarauga and got a Jaguar as a cub which he raised to maturity as a pet. He brought it back and gave it to the Washington Zoo. SCI Life Member NRA Patron Life Member DRSS | |||
|
One of Us |
My dad has told me several times about a lady that lived down the street that had a leopard. I guess she got it as a cub and would walk it 2 or 3 times a week around a couple of blocks. He said that after seeing it a few times he ran out and told her nice jaguar, she looks down at him and very snotty tells him it is a leopard. He said that she walked it for 15 or so years then it disappeared and she started walking a puppy. He asked her about it and she got choked up and said that he died and said she would buy another if the permits werent so hard to get and if she knew she would outlive it. skog | |||
|
One of Us |
I believe that J.A. Hunter in several of his books talks about Leopards he kept as pets over the years. He indicated that they made very good pets. I believe that he talked about an incident where one of the "pets" confronted an intruder, which was pretty funny. | |||
|
One of Us |
Looks like even the "safest" cat is iffy...
Link "If you’re innocent why are you taking the Fifth Amendment?”- Donald Trump | |||
|
One of Us![]() |
One of my acquaintances had a pair of Leopard cubs in a fairly large enclosure within his house. The pair lived together for two years until one fine morning his servants found out that the male had killed and eaten about a quarter of the female. Ahmed Sultan | |||
|
one of us![]() |
In 1995 I was visiting a game farm that as now been sold to new owners nera Rooibokraal, Thabazimbi area. As we were waiting for the manager inside the lodge with a high thatch roof we were served some coffee. Behind me I heard a dull thud and out of nowhere a leopard came to the coffee table and started to drink the milk out of the milk jug. Now I obviously knew the leopard was tame but how tame I didnt know, and left him drink the milk to his content. The manager of the farm walked in saw the leoprad gave him a boot on his behind and shouted at him about drinking the milk. Later the leopard came back and put his head on my lap and I scrathed him behind his ear and you could see he enjoyed that very much. Apparently he was found by the dogs on the farm and before the dogs could kill it he was rescued. And since then he grew up with the dogs and got really tame. The only difference being that the dogs had to stay outside and the leopard had freedom to roam inside the house since he was a cat and cleaner than the dogs. He had a favorite spot inside the house on top of one of the beams of the roof. That was the dull thud sound I heard from him jumping off the beam. Interestinlingy enough there was two leopard mounts inside the lodge as well but the leopard as far as I knew never gave them any attention. So I suppose depending on how they grow up and the own temperemant of the cat leopards could become tame enough,but how tame they would stay is another question. Frederik Cocquyt I always try to use enough gun but then sometimes a brainshot works just as good. | |||
|
One of Us![]() |
Anne Whittall raised a leopard and a couple of lions. I have promised before to post some pictures and I shall at some stage. Quite amazing pictures - leopard and lions in the lounge, part of the family. They were all successfully re-introduced to the bush. Dave | |||
|
One of Us |
I have a bit of experience with many of the exotic cats in captivity. They're as individualistic as people, and I learned not to generalize. Still, I agree with the trainer. They're cats, and all cats get a little loopy at times, but leopards do seem to be more prone to it. I helped raise a melanistic phase female leopard cub from a couple of weeks of age. She was a real hoot as a cub, and as sweet as she could be. When she grew up, she put my partner in the emergency room twice. I guess she just didn't like him. I was watching both times, and both times it happened almost too fast for it to register. You have to see the speed from up close to really appreciate how fast a leopard can be.
Perhaps a matter of semantics, but I don't entirely agree with that with respect to captive exotics. Like I said, they're cats, and all cats are loopy as hell from time to time, some more so than others - and I think that gets mistaken for killer "instinct". I'm not convinced that there's any more to it than that. African exotics in the US are (or were when I was involved many years ago) pre-Act cats, meaning that those here are many, many generations removed from the wild. Among other things, we used to feed whole chickens that we got gratus from a chicken processing plant. These were rejects that couldn't be sold for human consumption - usually a gut got nicked or something of the sort - but were perfect for our purpose. Many still had the feathers on but, of course, were already dead. One day some live ones got loose at the plant, and we were given a couple that we were able to catch. We figured the cats were gonna flip. I tossed one into a cage containing a pair of Siberian tigers. The chicken walked around squawking for quite a while the cats just watched - completely flipped out. The male finally walked over and sniffed it, then went back to watching it again. They seemed to understand that this was part of their regular diet - they'd eaten a great many of them before - but, beyond that, were utterly clueless. They hadn't had "Hunting 101", had never killed anything before, didn't know how to do it, and clearly didn't associate doing so with food. After a while, they started following it around, but without swatting it. Finally the male walked over and started eating it without killing it first, although the chicken didn't last long. It had taken 45 minutes. Similar with the other one we gave to a jaguar. ------------------------------------------------ "Serious rifles have two barrels, everything else just burns gunpowder." | |||
|
Administrator |
I know people who have them, as well as lions. But, they are not accessible to visitors. I think there is always some fear that if one decides to attack, serious damage might be done before he can be stopped. | |||
|
one of us |
About thirty five years ago when We lived in Madras (the city is called Chennai now) several film studio owners owned leopards and even tigers and lions. It was considered a ststus symbol of sorts though none of these - except one - were kept as pets in the sense of a dog or cat or whatever. The exception was Satish Vaman, then owner of Vaman studios who even used to walk his leopard on Spur Tank Road, a hop and step from my parents' place at that time on Sundays. Curious people would come to watch on occasion. Fortunately, no one was harmed and there was considerable pressure on him to stop this. Eventually his studio went belly up and they just closed down. The leopard must have been donated to one of the zoos. These days the Forest Department in India does not give licenses for people to own threatened species as easily as it used to in the past. If they did, I am sure there are enough wealthy Indians who would like to have these exotic pets. Mehul Kamdar "I ask, sir, what is the militia? It is the whole people. To disarm the people is the best and most effectual way to enslave them."-- Patrick Henry | |||
|
one of us![]() |
One of our local automobile dealers by the name of Cal Worthington used to have his "dog" Spot with him on his TV commercials. As you probably figured, Spot was a leopard. Apparently, Cal owned several big cats. Cal had been a B-17 pilot in WWII, and was apparently quite a character. He was an active pilot into his 80's and had dealerships in California and Alaska. If I recall correctly, the narrow gehetic variation in Cheetahs is speculated to be because something, likely disease, killed all but a handfull off within the past 1,000 or so years, and that those that are alive now are the offspring of less than 10 individuals. One morning I shot an elephant in my pajamas. How he got into my pajamas I'll never know. - Groucho Marx | |||
|
one of us |
Cal Worthington...that's interesting. He still has a large Ford dealership in Anchorage. I had no idea about the background info on him or that he liked big cats. _______________________________ ![]() | |||
|
One of Us |
The only reason I am posting this is to get facts straight & inform readers that Satish Vaman knew nothing about wildlife & wouldn't know the difference between a leopard and a cockroach! The old Rutland House colonial building was owned since about 1948 by Mr. GS Lamech after whom Lamech Avenue is named. He created that new subdivision in 1954 and 39 Spur Tank road (where Vaman Bros was operating) was one of the new properties next to the petrol station. He was my grand father & I inherited that house in 1971. I sold the house in 1994 to a Christian charity organiztion (run by a lady from New Zealand). They now have a multi story building with a great project providing work & rehabilitation for urban / slum women who were exploited. The house was originally rented to M. Dass the founder of Vaman bros. His no-good son took over & claimed to own the property! It too me 15 years to kick him out after a supreme court ruling! The owners of the property associated with having wild animals as pets was my father (a senior official in the Indian Forest Service). We had various pets such as sloth bear, deer, antelope, wild cat, civet, giant squirrel, python etc. But never in Chennai or any major city. We never had a pet leopard though dad always wanted one. Various houses around the old Vaman bros property are still owned by my extended family. One of dad's leopard trophies is there with my uncle. You can see at the bottom an old photo of my dad with his tiger http://forums.accuratereloadin...6108036/m/8831016211 It is strange how over a long period of time stories & myths can evolve and grow into something very different. "When the wind stops....start rowing. When the wind starts, get the sail up quick." | |||
|
One of Us |
Sondela Zim Africa Safaris use to have a female leopard in an enclosure, but she was not tame. Howard Knott of Greater Kuduland Safaris is rehabilitating a female leopard on his game ranch in the Limpopo. She runs free, but is collared. She was approachable then (1.5 years ago)and easily petted. Finally, during my much desparaged Kalahari tracking hunt for leopard at Grassland Safaris in Botswana I helped capture two young leopards that were placed in a pen before I killed their mother. The owner also had lions and wild dogs in enclosures. This operation has since gone green. I am not sure what happened to the leopards, but the owner told me if he couldn't sell them he would take them back to the CKGR and let them loose. STAY IN THE FIGHT! | |||
|
One of Us |
You killed the mother of two cubs...what the hell happened there?? You need to get back to us on that one...
| |||
|
One of Us![]() |
"Early in the morning, at break of day, in all the freshness and dawn of one's strength, to read a book - I call that vicious!"- Friedrich Nietzsche | |||
|
One of Us |
Later he had dealerships in Houston. Actually "his dog spot" seemed to encompass almost the entire animal kingdom. I seem to remember him riding a hippo in one commercial. Caleb | |||
|
one of us |
I have a copy of "Hunter's Tracks by J.A Hunter. The back of the jacket has a photo of Hunter, a leopard and a third man. The leopard seems tame! Peter. Be without fear in the face of your enemies. Be brave and upright, that God may love thee. Speak the truth always, even if it leads to your death. Safeguard the helpless and do no wrong; | |||
|
One of Us![]() |
Hi Shakari Can you remember the persons name that had the Leopard as Pet in Hoedspruit. Cheers | |||
|
one of us![]() |
It was the Tshukudu operation up there. Hardly wildest Africa but a good stopping off point for a photo safari because they do that early morning walk to the waterhole with the elephant and a lion or two to join you. I haven't been there for a while but the last time I visited, they had a mature leopard that was a bit doolally tat (the bastard gave me a very painful dab me one day when I was photographing it) and they also had a youngish orphaned cub. They also had an ultra tame cheetah that used to wander around the place. In the winter, if you sat on the sofa in front of the fire in the lodge, it'd get up and lay right across you and start purring like crazy. They also had two Lions that they hand reared and then released into the reserve and I was out one day with a buddy of mine who worked there and had reared them and we came across them in the bush.... and I managed to get these pics: ![]() Th camera shake on the open mouth pic was caused by the other one having sneaked up on me from behind, licked the back of my neck and scared the shit out of me just as I hit the shutter! ![]() | |||
|
one of us |
Out trolling again, Ashok? I can see you have at least two IDs on this forum after you were kicked off several others. You do need to do something when you're broke and have little else to do, I'm sure. ![]() Mehul Kamdar "I ask, sir, what is the militia? It is the whole people. To disarm the people is the best and most effectual way to enslave them."-- Patrick Henry | |||
|
One of Us |
No Mehul, I kicked you out of my environment because of your trade mark abusive behaviour. You are true to form here as well. ![]() I am not in the habit of trolling. When blatant falsehood is published about my property & the property of my extended family and about a known crook, I just had to highlight the facts. I still pray for you and trust that God will heal the hatred and bitterness in you. Have a great 2010 with your little daughter. "When the wind stops....start rowing. When the wind starts, get the sail up quick." | |||
|
One of Us |
shakari from what I hear haveing the shit scared out of you is not termanal ![]() ![]() ![]() | |||
|
Powered by Social Strata |
![]() | Please Wait. Your request is being processed... |
|
Visit our on-line store for AR Memorabilia