It would be great to be able to reach my hand out and touch one of these large cats to feel it's fine hair OK I can dream

I would like that too! To have the trust of such a majestic, large animal that it lets you touch it - that must be something truly wonderful! People who have that are truly to be envied!

In my dreams I see that animal it's look of happy but I do live in the real world I love my hands let alone my arms when I see a lion it is on the other side of bars Years ago I was in a Zoo and the keeper went to feed a very large animal a real man eater it lay just at the water's edge all slow looking half dead the very large lump of raw meat was toss in that animal moved like a flash of light one moment it was half dead and in a blink of the eye that meat was gone the next blink that half dead animal had returned I have never seen anything move like that before

Animals in captivity often react differently than those in the wild...or those that have contact with humans but are not caged. Animals in captivity are probably all about eating. No one takes these creatures' feelings into consideration and so sometimes the pent-up frustration erupts in a sudden and unexpected reaction.