# Big Cats in Zoos: Do they get "treats"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 9, 2014, 10:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-cats-in-zoos-do-they-get-treats/678346 "2014-01-09T10:21:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![MLS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MLS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MLS)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2014, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-cats-in-zoos-do-they-get-treats/678346/21 "2014-01-09T23:54:51Z")
> [@Dr.Strangelove](#): > > [Yes](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YE-hH3X1tKY). The idiot dad in that video calls the snow leopard a “tiger,” and exclaims over and over, “Oh, no! Oh, no!” I guess he thinks the burger he ate for lunch grew on a hamburger tree. ---
**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2014, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-cats-in-zoos-do-they-get-treats/678346/22 "2014-01-10T00:28:39Z")
> [@Spoons](#): > > More like the pizza delivering itself. 🙂 A pizza that you don’t have to pay for that delivers itself. Rodents wander in, but they don’t wander out. ---
**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2014, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-cats-in-zoos-do-they-get-treats/678346/23 "2014-01-10T02:32:47Z")
Just don’t ask about treats in the primate house. ---
**Author:** ![Washoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ecae2f/32.png) [@Washoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Washoe)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2014, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-cats-in-zoos-do-they-get-treats/678346/24 "2014-01-10T04:03:02Z")
> [@MLS](#): > > The idiot dad in that video calls the snow leopard a “tiger,” and exclaims over and over, “Oh, no! Oh, no!” I guess he thinks the burger he ate for lunch grew on a hamburger tree. To add insult to injury, even his own kid is looking at him as if he’s a douche. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2014, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-cats-in-zoos-do-they-get-treats/678346/25 "2014-01-10T05:17:24Z")
> [@Washoe](#): > > To add insult to injury, even his own kid is looking at him as if he’s a douche. “Dad, he’s a _carnivore_. That’s just how he rolls.” ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2014, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-cats-in-zoos-do-they-get-treats/678346/26 "2014-01-10T06:48:04Z")
I volunteered at a zoo as a (pre?)teenager. They used the term “enrichment” to refer to activities designed to stimulate the animals’ minds and keep them calm and healthy. They had things like peanut butter smeared inside objects that required work to get it out, for the IIRC tigers(?). The lions got bloodsicles. The sun bears got a lot of stuff, too. ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2014, 11:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-cats-in-zoos-do-they-get-treats/678346/27 "2014-01-10T11:31:09Z")
I guess that putting a surplus deer into the tiger cage would be a bit much for the public to accept. Though I suspect that many people would pay extra to watch. Instead they butcher the animal. tie bits of it to a rope, and drag it through the enclosure. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-cats-in-zoos-do-they-get-treats/678346.md?page=1)