While the mass majority of people would only see humans intimately interacting with ferocious animals in cartoons and Disney movies, there's a zoo that's actually bringing your wildest dreams, or nightmares, about getting up close and personal with fierce beast to life.
The Lujan Zoo in Argentina provides visitors with the opportunity to pet, feed and even cuddle with wild animals. Pictures taken at the zoo, which is located just outside Buenos Aires, shows customers bottle feeding bears, snuggling with tigers and kissing a lion without any harm or attack. In one photo, a toddler is seen sitting amongst a group of lion cubs.
According to the zoo's website, it possess over 50 African lions, 20 Bengal tigers, 12 mountain lions and about 50 different species of South American monkeys. The animal park also showcases two female elephants and a variety of reptiles and birds. It claims that they receive many of the animals from pet owners who unable to house the animals after they reach a certain size.
While many visitors suspect that the animals are drugged, the zoo claims that it keeps the killer beasts calm and passive by taming each animal from birth and raising them to be permissive and uninterested in eating humans.
Since the wildlife petting zoo opened in 1994, there have not been any reports of incidents of harm or predation, yet some argue that the zoo's clean record may be a result of bribery among authorities.
The Lujan Zoo is one of the only places in the world where people can pet wild animals, an otherwise extremely dangerous and unrealistic activity that should never be attempted outside the confines of such facilities.
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