These 24 vintage photographs below will offer you a look at people who had too much love for big cats that they even decided to keep those enormous animals as home pets no matter what the cost could be…
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| Ruby Wood taking her 300-pound lion on a daily ride in her roadster, Venice, California, 1930s. (Underwood Archives) |
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| Motorcyclist Triss Sharp and his pet lion cub mascot at Crystal Palace in London, 1930. (Fox Photos) |
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| Lieut. Col. Roscoe Turner feeding his mascot and traveling companion lion cub at The Sherman Hotel in Chicago, 1930. (NY Daily News) |
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| The lion club of San Diego, 1935. (Keystone) |
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| 'Tornado' Smith, the Wall of Death rider from Southend, and his wife having tea with their pet lion and lamb, 1936. (Fox Photos) |
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| Actress Gloria Youngblood with her lion, 1937. (Imagno) |
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| Pierre Clostermann, UDSR deputy, caresses Bai, a young lioness brought back from Sudan, Bougival, France, 1950. (Michou Simon) |
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| Tommy, a pet lion cub, sitting in on a second-grade class at Alta Brown School, Kansas, 1951. (A. Y. Owen) |
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| Pvt. Floyd Humeston lends his hat to his pet, Hollywood lion Fearless Fagan, 1951. (Loomis Dean) |
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| MGM associate producer Sidney Franklin Jr. chauffeurs Hollywood lion Fearless Fagan, his newly discovered star, 1951. (Loomis Dean) |
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| Pet lion Blondie giving a piggyback ride to a young neighbor girl as owner Charles Hipp keeps her in tow, Texas, 1955. (Joseph Scherschel) |
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| Blondie, the pet lion, takes her first ride in a Chris Craft Continental inboard motorboat with the owner on Possum Kingdom Lake, Texas, 1955. (Joseph Scherschel) |
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| Mrs Verna Koontz and her pet mountain lion Kimbo playing in the living room, 1956. (Los Angeles Examiner/USC Libraries) |
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| Norman Payne playing with his home pet lion, 1958. (Los Angeles Examiner/USC Libraries) |
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| Crowd looking at the woman petting the lion cub, Nevada, 1959. (Nat Farbman) |
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| Guy Michael and wife walking their pet lion and dog on the streets, 1959. (Nat Farbman) |
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| Two boys and their pet lion, Zug, Switzerland, 1959. (RDB) |
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| Howard Sautter riding pet lion downtown in the backseat of his car, 1964. (Truman Moore) |
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| Clarke family's youngest daughter Yvonne on her bed with her favorite pet Leonie, 1972. (Watford) |
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| Pet lion cub Sheba at Public House clutching a bell on the bar counter, Denbighshire, 1972. (Watford) |
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| Garage owner Mr. Tom Gillespie's five-month-old pet lion cub Leo sitting by the petrol pump, 1975. (Watford) |
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| Noel Marshall works at a typewriter in his study as his pet lion Neil stands above him, Sherman Oaks, California, 1971. (Michael Rougier) |
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| Tippi Hedren reads a newspaper as she leans against her pet lion Neil at home, Sherman Oaks, California, 1971. (Michael Rougier) |
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| Noel Marshall with his animals on his San Fernando Valley compound, 1982. (Eddie Sanderson) |
