Living with Tigers

With six-inch fangs and weighing in at 600lb, Saber and Janda are no ­ordinary house cats. Yet these huge Bengal tigers live in Janice Haley’s suburban garden and are treated like ordinary pets. They are fed by hand, get strokes and cuddles, and white male Saber goes to sleep sucking on her finger. Janice’s life changed 20 years ago when she spotted an advert for a tiger training course in her local paper – and two years later arrived home with her first cub. Then in 2002 she bought Janda, who is now 12.

After her first tiger died in 2007 little Saber – who was only two weeks old at the time – was introduced to the family. Janice, who lives in ­Davenport, Florida, says: “They pretty much look at me as being their mother. As far as I’m concerned they are my big four-legged furry kids. We have a very special bond – they rub my face and let me kiss them on the nose, we can cuddle with them and hug them”. After a full day of play and feeding, Janice lies down with the tigers to help them go to sleep. She says: “I don’t know of too many places where you can cuddle with a full grown tiger and we’ve been doing this with them for years”. Janice and husband David work around the clock to care for the tigers and spend all of their income on food and care.

The pair are best of friends. (Photo by Ruaridh Connellan/Barcroft Media)

Saber and Janda seem to thrive off human contact. (Photo by Ruaridh Connellan/Barcroft Media)

Janda knows the saying don’t bite the hand that feeds you. (Photo by Ruaridh Connellan/Barcroft Media)

Baby Saber in December 2007. (Photo by Barcroft Media)

Janice lounging around with Janda. (Photo by Ruaridh Connellan/Barcroft Media)

They cuddle her like she’s one of their own. (Photo by Ruaridh Connellan/Barcroft Media)

The giant cat loves the affection. (Photo by Ruaridh Connellan/Barcroft Media)

Would you cuddle a big cat? (Photo by Ruaridh Connellan/Barcroft Media)