24 Bizarre Vintage Photos of People and Their Pet Lions

   

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…

 
Ruby Wood taking her 300-pound lion on a daily ride in her roadster, Venice, California, 1930s. (Underwood Archives)
 
Motorcyclist Triss Sharp and his pet lion cub mascot at Crystal Palace in London, 1930. (Fox Photos)

 

Lieut. Col. Roscoe Turner feeding his mascot and traveling companion lion cub at The Sherman Hotel in Chicago, 1930. (NY Daily News)

 

The lion club of San Diego, 1935. (Keystone)

 

'Tornado' Smith, the Wall of Death rider from Southend, and his wife having tea with their pet lion and lamb, 1936. (Fox Photos)

 

Actress Gloria Youngblood with her lion, 1937. (Imagno)

 

Pierre Clostermann, UDSR deputy, caresses Bai, a young lioness brought back from Sudan, Bougival, France, 1950. (Michou Simon)

 

Tommy, a pet lion cub, sitting in on a second-grade class at Alta Brown School, Kansas, 1951. (A. Y. Owen)

 

Pvt. Floyd Humeston lends his hat to his pet, Hollywood lion Fearless Fagan, 1951. (Loomis Dean)

 

MGM associate producer Sidney Franklin Jr. chauffeurs Hollywood lion Fearless Fagan, his newly discovered star, 1951. (Loomis Dean)

 

Pet lion Blondie giving a piggyback ride to a young neighbor girl as owner Charles Hipp keeps her in tow, Texas, 1955. (Joseph Scherschel)

 

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)

 

Mrs Verna Koontz and her pet mountain lion Kimbo playing in the living room, 1956. (Los Angeles Examiner/USC Libraries)

 

Norman Payne playing with his home pet lion, 1958. (Los Angeles Examiner/USC Libraries)

 

Crowd looking at the woman petting the lion cub, Nevada, 1959. (Nat Farbman)

 

Guy Michael and wife walking their pet lion and dog on the streets, 1959. (Nat Farbman)

 

Two boys and their pet lion, Zug, Switzerland, 1959. (RDB)

 

Howard Sautter riding pet lion downtown in the backseat of his car, 1964. (Truman Moore)

 

Clarke family's youngest daughter Yvonne on her bed with her favorite pet Leonie, 1972. (Watford)

 

Pet lion cub Sheba at Public House clutching a bell on the bar counter, Denbighshire, 1972. (Watford)

 

Garage owner Mr. Tom Gillespie's five-month-old pet lion cub Leo sitting by the petrol pump, 1975. (Watford)

 

 
Noel Marshall works at a typewriter in his study as his pet lion Neil stands above him, Sherman Oaks, California, 1971. (Michael Rougier)

 

 
Tippi Hedren reads a newspaper as she leans against her pet lion Neil at home, Sherman Oaks, California, 1971. (Michael Rougier)

 

 
Noel Marshall with his animals on his San Fernando Valley compound, 1982. (Eddie Sanderson)