• Question: Would i be able to keep a lion as a pet? I could get it when it was really young then train it to be nice and not eat people? And i could keep it in a really big garden or something. But wasn't their some people who kept a lion called christian?

    Asked by livbom to Charlotte, Jo, Kevin, Louise, Valeria on 15 Jun 2012.
    • Photo: Kevin Mahon

      Kevin Mahon answered on 15 Jun 2012:

      Owning exotic animals such as Lions is common in America and there are people in the UK who have owned similar wild animals as pets. You can do it – it is possible to get a license etc to own one of these animals.

      I’ll be frank – lions are wild animals and try as you might, you won’t be able to domesticate one without a long running breeding programme and generations of captive lions. A lion has natural needs you could never cater to – It has a psychological need to hunt natural prey, to interact with other lions and to range over dozens of miles of savannah every day – you are unlikely to provide this, no matter how big your garden is!

      Personally, I’m totally against taking a wild animal out of its habitat to have as a pet, it happens too much for my liking and has serious welfare risks for the animal as well as being ethically dubious! Does a persons desire to have a lion as a pet outweigh the animals right to live its life out naturally? I don;t think so, but that’s me!

      Get a cat instead 😉

    • Photo: Joanna Cruden

      Joanna Cruden answered on 15 Jun 2012:

      I agree with what Kevin has said and a cat would be a better option or a Lionhead rabbit!

      Aside from all of the other points regarding the space and needs of a lion, even if you had a lion as a pet and it was a loving and friendly lion it would not know its own strength and could accidently bite your head off in play or claw you to death when you play chase with it

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