Columnist Susan Snyder: Dangers of exotic cat ownership

Tuesday, Feb. 22, 2000 | 9:22 a.m.

Susan Snyder's column appears Tuesdays and Sundays. Reach her at snyder@vegas.com or 259-4082.

Las Vegas seemed a strange venue for the U.S. Department of Agriculture to publicly denounce the private ownership of exotic cats.

After all, people can see -- and in one place, hold -- lions or tigers in at least three Las Vegas Strip resorts.

During the Humane Society of the United States' annual exposition at the Riviera hotel-casino last week animal care expert Ron DeHaven of the Agriculture Department said his agency philosophically opposes owning such cats as pets. "Wild, exotic cats make dangerous pets," DeHaven said. "Our inspectors have seen situations where an exotic animal has, for no reason, gone after its handler. Even a friendly, loving animal can be dangerous."

Although the USDA doesn't have the power to make such ownership illegal, agency officials have printed a four-page, color brochure denouncing the practice. "Good. It's about time. There's a lot of them around, and I think it should be outlawed," said Jonathan Kraft, who owns Keepers of the Wild animal sanctuary in Las Vegas.

Kraft, who used to entertain with animals, now runs a nonprofit shelter for exotics that have been retired from show businesses or abandoned as pets.

Mountain lions are among Nevada's most popular exotic cat pets, said the author of a book about the exotic pet black market. Kraft said five of the six mountain lions he shelters were pets people decided they couldn't handle. "I get them all the time," he said. "One of them was owned by Slash of Guns n' Roses. But it bit his wife, so it came to us."

Richard Farinato, director of the Humane Society's captive wildlife protection program, said the MGM Grand Lion Habitat belies the ferocity with which lions can react. "They're glorifying young lions as big stuffed animals -- something you want to be close to, something you want to have," Farinato said.

He said his organization has received half a dozen letters from people complaining about MGM visitors holding a lion cub for a photo. That kind of contact encourages people to want one as a pet, Farinato said.

"What are you teaching the public?" he said.

MGM officials declined to comment specifically on Farinato's remarks, offering instead a printed release about the exhibit. It said photos are 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. six days a week, with five cubs rotating through the daily schedule. They have frequent breaks and "dictate their own schedule."

"It is our goal to create a loving bond between our guests and the lions so that they will be willing to donate to organizations that save the lands that lions inhabit," it said.

Many owners think they can donate their pet to a zoo when it grows into a 360-pound wild animal, Farinato said. But zoos typically won't accept privately-owned animals. The bloodlines are suspect.

Lucky cats end up at sanctuaries, but there aren't many. One of the exposition's exotic animal specialists said there are about a dozen reputable ones nationally.

"It's a desperate need. The California sanctuaries are maxed out," said Kraft, who hopes Clark County commissioners will in March approve his plan for a 127-acre wild animal sanctuary.

Farinato said the less human contact with big cats, the better.

"You can't train them. They're unpredictable," Farinato said. "You're playing Russian roulette."