Pet Tigers

You don't have time to react, to feel frightened of the huge animals around you.  The trainer is beckoning you to pet the tiger like this and to take your pictures and get out.  He squirts some milk into your palm, and the nearest tiger licks at it with a big, scratchy tongue.  Another tiger paces behind you.  And also a fluffy dog.

A week ago, I visited the Lujan Zoo in Lujan, Argentina, a two-hour ride outside Buenos Aires on the 57 bus from Plaza Italia.  I've been avoiding writing about it.  I still don't know how to describe it properly, the feeling of being so close, touching, these big cats.  In the Pittsburgh Zoo, to see the tiger sunning itself between the trees or to watch the lions pace within 10 meters of the dirty glass was enough of a thrill.  You got to see the tigers!  Sometimes all you saw was an empty enclosure, a few green plants, and moved on to the monkey jungle.  To enter a cage with five dozing tigers, to feel its mouth on my hand, to pet its soft back like I'd pet Luna---that is worlds away from elbowing at a fence for a peek at a striped tail.

While the experience was once-in-a-lifetime, the zoo itself leaves me feeling ambiguous.  For a rundown of Animal Rights complaints, you can read former roommate Guy's article at the Argentina Independent.  There are accusations that the animals are drugged, though that's vehemently denied by the zookeepers.  Most of the lions, tigers, and bears we saw were lying around, sleeping or sunning---but isn't that what animals do?  Especially when it's hot?  The cats are trained with dogs, even as babies, and dogs (judging from Luna's daily activities) mostly lie around.

The zoo itself is more of a farm display, located on a dirt road just off the highway.  The paths are mud and gravel.  Junk vehicles are parked in two "museum" lots---a collection of rusty tractors in the Antique Tractor Museum and an assortment of military vehicles, all flying tiny Argentine flags, in the Military Vehicle Museum.  The lots are overgrown, and I wonder how many tourists would ignore or delay their tiger-petting moments for a quick look at an old jeep.  Ducks wander freely.  Dogs and llamas do, too.  There are a few capuchin monkeys in cages that seem too small, a couple of sea lions in a blue concrete pool, a fenced-in section for deer and goats.  Your entry ticket gets you one free camel ride, and in the shady back end of the zoo, you can feed squash to the elephants.

The highlight, even more than petting tigers, is holding the baby lions.  They huddle in a small area with their black puppy friends, sleeping on each other or pawing rubber balls, before they're snatched up and settled into laps for photo opportunities.  I held one that was only a month old.  It continued sleeping as it was set on my arm, feeling as warm and small and comforting as a human infant.  Ben held a two month old, which was more energetic, and I wondered what breeding system they have in place.  The baby lions are the highlight for everyone---how does the zoo continue to offer the babies without interbreeding?  I don't know.  They do have a lot of lions.

Despite feeling that what I was doing wasn't exactly right---these are wild animals, I am not supposed to go around touching them---it was an experience I'll remember for the rest of my life.  Because it isn't natural, and because few places in the world offer such an experience, it's something I won't have the opportunity to repeat.  It is a unique moment, and when you're there, you realize how unique, and the moment becomes precious and palpable.  You are petting tigers.  There is magic in that.