Teen, Felicia Frisco, Sleeps With Pet Tiger In Bed (VIDEO)

A real tiger in bed. Seriously.

According to this Joy Behar interview with Dr. Bhagavan Antle of the Myrtle Beach Safari, 17-year-old Felicia Frisco, who comes from a family of animal handlers, sleeps with a 100-pound Bengal tiger in her bed. She is working as a trainer to bond with the animal. When the tiger turns one year old, he will be returned to the other tigers, but hopefully Felicia's relationship with him will remain.

When asked about the dangers of sleeping with a tiger, Antle responded, "Certainly there is a degree of danger. She's a professional doing something that has a set of risks to it, just like going out and snowboarding competitively does." But at his current age, the tiger's teeth are smaller than a dog's.

Behar dug a bit deeper, questioning whether the animal should be kept in captivity. Unfortunately though, as Antle explains, "There's nowhere for a tiger to live in the wild anymore." Bengal tigers are considered an endangered species on the IUCN Red List, with estimates suggesting that the total Bengal tiger population may be less than 2,500 due to habitat loss and poaching. Plus, a recent WWF study found that climate change may shrink tigers' habitat by 96%, leaving the tiger population at just 20 breeding animals. Bengal tigers are already showing signs of stress from environmental changes, with experts taking particular note of their dwindling stature. If no action is taken to eliminate poaching and habitat destruction, the WWF estimates that tigers could in fact become extinct in under 12 years.

Should the family be praised for protecting an endangered species, or do they take things a step too far?

WATCH the tiger in a teen's bed:
(NOTE: Due to the CNN video currently not working, we have added an additional video from ABC below.)

Another video (via ABC):

Comments

[Wall-Eee]

01:58 PM on 03/07/2011

Let's see, a predator which nature had nearly perfected over hundreds of thousands if not millions of years to be the leader of the food chain, is going to become a domestic cat because you have been raising it like your own kid.

Good luck with that!

I mean if it even scratched or bit the girl playfully, its not going to end well for the poor cat.

[S O]

04:28 PM on 02/14/2011

why hasn't anyone reported this to CPS?! I mean, really people?! With parents this irresponsible, why aren't they in front of a judge being called to task for child endangerment? As far as the girl, she needs to be taken out of the home. Immediately. If she loves cats this much, let her live/work at a no-kill cat shelter. she can sleep with as many cats as she wants! Freekin' idiots!

[Femonanon]

01:20 PM on 02/14/2011

First, gay marriage....then...argh........;-p

[liberalbug]

01:15 AM on 02/14/2011

A future snack a la sigfried and roy.

[NevaforLeadership]

09:49 AM on 02/13/2011

This story doesn't anger me; it outrages me!

Myrtle Beach Safari, my foot!

These "trainers" and "handlers" are part of a two-pronged problem: those who encroach on wild life by stealing their space and those who encroach on wild life by snatching them away from their habitats.

Dr. Bhagavan Antle by her designation should know better. If she wants to make a difference, first, she can first seek out one of the sanctuaries where these "trained and handled" magnificent creatures are looked after, once they have been destroyed by their trainers who can no longer handle them for financial or physical reasons. Here is a lead, Dr. Antle: a sanctuary on the Isle of Wight that does an incredible job of making the lives of these captured animals a little better. Then she can join the millions of people around the world who are fighting for the preservation of these animals in the wild. She can seek to join those in India who have done enormous work, creating national tiger reserves, so that they can continue to live in their natural habitat.

Wild tigers do not belong on Myrtle Beach under the pretense of a "Safari," and they do not belong in the beds of trainers and handlers.

Shame on you Dr. Bhagavan Antle.

[Joel Mendez]

11:48 PM on 02/11/2011

I'm all for saving the environment, and protecting animal species in danger of extinction...BUT....sleeping with a hundred pound predator? has this kid never heard of Steve Irwin?

[Genders]

06:03 PM on 02/11/2011

I'm glad they acknowledge the danger. good luck.

[Joel Mendez]

11:49 PM on 02/11/2011

I think you're setting the bar too low-the danger should be obvious. acknowledging it less than impressive.

[PoliSci2008]

04:30 PM on 02/11/2011

Oh, the tiger is just a pup! She'll be ok until the tiger turns 1 year old...let's hope so

[Kepler Poinsot]

03:56 PM on 02/11/2011

Like to see her try to do that when the Tiger is hungry...swallow...burp...

Felicia Fail will be her new name

[wm1066]

12:03 PM on 02/11/2011

If this is a male tiger I would be afraid for any boyfriends she has over.

[juancapez]

03:23 AM on 02/11/2011

i hope she's using protection. we don't need anymore unwed tiger moms in this country.

[Labyrinth666]

02:24 AM on 02/11/2011

That chick is totally going to get mauled to death; look at Siegfried and Roy, and they were trained professionals.

[Ebay Seller Len]

10:40 PM on 02/11/2011

You don't really know what happened, do you?

One, it wasn't a juvenile, two, he wasn't attacked.

[Joel Mendez]

11:51 PM on 02/11/2011

well yeah, but i think the pertinent facts here are: tiger=wild animal, humans=can be killed by tigers. Anything else is a bit on the superfluous side.

[arneader]

01:50 AM on 02/11/2011

Child protective services should arrest her parents!

[paddy523]

01:37 AM on 02/11/2011

by any chance is the tiger named Hobbes?

[LalaSmiles]

11:37 PM on 02/10/2011

Reading in the news that a 17 year old girl, who seems to be a specialist on exotic wild cats, playing and sleeping with her pet Bengal tiger in her bed......
- Now hearing the tiger thinking: oh, I'm so interested in what you have to say...come a bit closer....chomp.

Reading in the news that a 17 year old girl, seemingly an expert on exotic and wild cats was attacked by her pet Bengal tiger.
- Now hearing myself thinking: "the parents need a slap upside the head, and where the hell is US EPA?"

She should have chosen a pet Chimpanzee!

[Kathleen McKinley]

11:32 PM on 02/13/2011

Chimpanzees are nothing to mess around with either!

[LalaSmiles]

09:46 AM on 02/16/2011

.....um....."tongue in cheek"....no, absolutely NO wild animal should be kept in those conditions, and I think we all agree on that!