US teen says looking after tiger cub is like raising a dog

LONDON - A teenage girl in America has revealed that she finds looking after a tiger cub is just like raising a dog.

Felicia Frisco, 17, from Florida, has been sharing her full-sized bed with six-month-old Bengal tiger Will since the day he was born, and she plans for them to remain bedfellows until he’s a year old.

“It’s kind of like raising a dog. If you raise a tiger, it’s normal to you,” the Daily Mail quoted her as telling Peoplepets.com.

“I get a lot of hair up my nose and all over my sheets. He likes to lick me a lot too,” the Tampa teen, who has been caring for Will since his birth, said.

Will was bred in captivity by Frisco’s parents who run an educational project called Tiger Encounter.

The teen, who is home schooled, cares for and sleeps with the big cat as he was rejected by his mother, who didn’t know what to do when Will, her first cub, was born.

But he is not the first tiger she has shared her bed with, as she had previously allowed Will’s father Daruba to sleep with her until he turned a year old.

She feeds, walks and plays with Will, and says her bond with him is like that of a mother.

“I’m very protective of him and I always want to be around him.

He was so small, and watching him get so big, it’s kind of like having a child,” she added. (ANI)