The Coalition of the Swilling

It's the eponymy, stupid!

I dont' know what makes people think they can own tigers.
Stupidity has a price

You mean that if you treat them nice they don't become the equivalent of big fluffy kittens?

Nah, you become the equivalent of meow mix. Jesus, buy a ferret or something. Maybe a chicken. Chicken messes up, at least you have a good meal outta the altercation. Makes you wonder how in the hell we domesticated the plethora of animals we have today.

Simple, Ebola. People were smarter back in our day.

those darn Bengali ...always giving us tigers bad PR.

We don't know that our ancestors had an easy time of domesticating those wild animals, Ebola. I expect that it took generations of breeding to develop dogs that would bond with humans. And even then, there are plenty of unprovoked dog attacks on people today, including those by packs of feral dogs.

So I wouldn't say it's a matter of people being smarter back in Ken's day. I would say it's a matter of people being stupid *and* impatient today. They simply don't believe that wild animals are dangerous to mere humans.

I can't help but feel badly for the tiger. It was only being a tiger, and authorities went in there and killed it. They have to, I know - once a tiger realizes that man is the hunting equivalent of a microwave burrito, they can't be trusted in zoos and preserves. But it's still a shame. Leave it to the professionals, folks.

once a tiger realizes that man is the hunting equivalent of a microwave burrito

ROFLMAO, now that is absolutely classic. Rock on. Surprised my mother hasn't bit into a pun like a nice tasty human morsel to a tiger yet. She's either eating my friday steak that I missed tonight ::grumble:: or she's sick. Ooooo, where ya at on this mudda?

There's some thoughts that dogs self-selected in order to garner the table scraps and such.
Tigers are incredibly powerful and quick, they are by definition "Dangerous Game" - not much of a game for them to swat you big time. But even in Bengal in the wild they don't typically hunt humans for food unless there are extrordinary pressures, or the animal is injured and humans are the easiest prey. Then most of the deaths are usually women or girls, out gathering fire wood in the forest.
Where we lived when I was a kid '67-thru-'69 (Orissa), more people were killed by tigers than died in automobile accidents. Good Tiger Book.