If we push the moral issues of keeping wild animals captive/as pets aside, these pictures are just fantastic. Who didn’t want a pet lion as a kid, I ask you?
I wish I had some backstory on these, but I don’t; they’re from the LIFE archive and first spotted here.
Wow… the middle photo in particular disturbs me, considering my Hannibal’s penchant for getting in bed with me, then biting my hand when I deign to move around and/or stop petting him.