And nearly wet myself doing it.

Well.....as you guys will remember, I got to pat a Cheetah for my birthday. It was an amazing experiance!
Got to the zoo for my 10am appointment. Signed a waver....so I can't sue them if I get eaten alive.
There was another guy doing the tour thing with me and we both got a talk from the keeper before we went in. He said to always do as he says and I quote "If I say move....move quickly".
Ok....my nerves are shot already.
We walked in and it's the weirdest feeling being in there with 3 Cheetahs. Every fiber of your body is telling you you shouldn't be in there with this animal. But we walk over to the 2 females and he tells me to aprouch them from behind and give them a pat. The fur isn't as soft as a house cats.....it's a bit wirey. The are BIG cats too!!!! They're all legs and look very strong. The one I was patting started to purr.
As I was patting, the keeper was telling me about what cheetahs do in the wild and such. Just then the Cheetrah stretched out her paws and rolled over towards me. The keeper stops in mid sentance and says "MOVE AWAY!!!"
It's ok.....she was enjoying the pat it turns out.
So I spent 20 minutes with them and loved the whole thing. I would recomend it if your zoo is doing something similar.

oohhhhh, that's SO awesome!!!

Happy birthday, BTW.

althom said:

No. comment.


I am officially jealous! I'm glad you had a great time. Thanks for sharing the pics too! Did you have to change your underwear after the experience?

Are you wearing running shoes and sports pants? Smart man!

Nice B-day present. What a unique experience. Hope you brought extra undies and pants in case you did pee

Steadwood said:

Very cool. A couple of years ago I was gonna help out an illusionist with his tigers, but I moved and yadda yadda yadda. Gotta love big cats. You're one lucky bastard!
[Edited 3/13/05 15:53pm]

Chico319 said:

I thought so too until the keeper said we wouldn't have a chance if they decided to chase us.

althom said:

True. But one can dream.

it was sittin there and daydreaming as you were pettin it: mmmm...i bet he tastes just as good as he's petting me...

that's awesome that you got to do this (and get out of it unscathed to boot)...w00!!!!

what a unique birthday gift

Some more pics off my death defying act!

The chick petting the Cheetah sure is butch.

AsianBomb777 said:

Bugger u lived through it..oops I mean that looks great hun

Ocean said:

althom said:

Happy Birthday! What a great experience getting to pet some cheetahs. I love them, they are such beautiful animals. I give you credit, I don't think I would be gutsy enough to actually be able to pet one, even if I did have a keeper with me.

cool!

that's awesome, the cheetahs look so beautiful
(oh and you look good too!) great birthday gift!

that is cool!

269 said:

Thanks! I needed that!

althom said:

How sweet is that?
[Edited 3/13/05 17:24pm]

What a great present! Big cats, particularly leopards, are my favorite animals.

...But there is no way in hell I'm gonna get that close to something that runs 75 miles per hour and could kill me with one strike to the jugular. Not unless they are drugged to high heaven.

I'll settle for spending 20 mins with my 2nd and 3rd favorite animals -- domestic cats and owls.

Happy belated, althom!!!

I love domestic cats and owls too, shoot, I love ANY animal for that matter.

I'm pretty jealous.

I'm not exactly staring death in the face but here we are with a lion cub in Vegas:




Here is a tiger behind some glass at the zoo:




Or scariest of all... Buff.

lovemachine said:

There's anothing that you can do at this zoo that I went to, and that's feeding the tigers! They're on the other side of the cage....but you do hand it to them!

althom said:

chick? what chick?,