Referencing this video, in which a man yanks out a tiger’s tooth with a pair of pliers. The tooth is obviously loose, but the tiger doesn’t appear to be obviously drugged; he’s active and alert, so it doesn’t seem like there’s a systemic narcotic drug in effect, at least not one that would eliminate pain, and it seems doubtful that one could successfully administer a local anesthetic without losing a hand. I would expect significant pain when the tooth gets yanked, followed by a first-rate mauling, but the tiger barely protests.
It seems clear that the tiger is owned by this man as a pet, and was perhaps raised from a cub by him. Any animal develops a bond with its owner. My guess is that this tiger had a strong enough emotional bond with its owner that it wasn’t angered enough to want to hurt him. Note that he does bite him on the arm, but it’s not a vicious bite with true intent to harm, it’s just a “soft” bite.
I’ve seen this video before. Note the size of the tiger, it is a young one. THe person is, in fact, pulling a baby tooth out. It hurts as much as you pulling a baby tooth out of your kids mouth. Note at 28 seconds the formation of the tooth…see that it is hollow and the root is dissolved/missing. This is what a baby tooth of a feline looks like. I’ve dissected lots of cats, and one of them had teeth just like this that I pulled out…only smaller.
What I heard when someone asked this before was that the guy actually has been hurt before, but is one of those who insists on treating wild animals as domesticated.
