Awwwww!

The newpaper had one of those "awwww!" stories the other day. It was about the baby cheetahs recently acquired by the Dallas Zoo. I'm not sure what the purpose of all this is -- probably some kind of study on how to stop bullying -- but I think they're doing something that's not only stupid but cruel.

The little cheetahs are eight weeks old. And anybody who doesn't think they are adorable doesn't have a heart! They are the cutest little things. They are raising them with a lab puppy in the hopes that the puppy's "mellowness" will "rub off" on the cheetahs. Are they daft?

No matter how cute they are now, the cheetahs are wild animals with wild animal instincts. The staff says they aren't dangerous to the dog. Well, they're not now, but give them a few months or a year! Cheetahs knock their prey to the ground and kill with a suffocating bite to the neck. We'll see how much of that lab "mellowness" they've absorbed when Mother Nature's personality traits take hold!

But let's say that their little experiment does work, and the puppy and the cheetahs remain bosom pals. Doesn't that skew the puppy's understanding of dangerous animals? Will he realize that other big cats won't like him the way that his little buddies do? What if he sees a cougar at the zoo and decides to go make friends with him? And what about the cheetahs? Why do we want to make them more mellow? How will that play out if they put them into a habitat with cats who haven't been mellowed out?

Zoo officials say that, no, the cheetahs won't eat the dog. They view themselves as a family unit. Maybe they do, but the cheetahs are wild animals, and someday, instead of little brother, they may see dinner. I can't help but think of that fruitcake up in Alaska who lived with the bears until they ate him a few years ago. And of all the folks who've had sweet little pit bulls who, for some inexplicable reason, decide to turn on them one day. You'd think people who are supposed to be animal experts would know better.

"2 species in the spotlight." The Dallas Morning News; September 19, 2013; p. 1B.