Swimming with tigers

Swimming with tigers

Given that Hull City FC (The Tigers) are doing swimmingly at present...

Traditionally, trainers have struggled to build an attachment with the largest of the big cats, Picture: BARCROFT MEDIA

But The Institute of Greatly Endangered and Rare Species, or TIGERS, near Miami, claims to have overcome the problem by encouraging both tigers and humans to swim together in a specially adapted pool, Picture: BARCROFT MEDIA

Tigers are known as the best swimmers of all the big cats with modified webbing between their toes to make their feet more like flippers, Picture: BARCROFT MEDIA

TIGERS claim that the animals love to play in the water, Picture: BARCROFT MEDIA

The hand-reared tigers are introduced to the water a few months after birth and the trainers then give one-on-one tuition to each of the animals while they are in the water, Picture: BARCROFT MEDIA

Filled with 100,00 gallons of water, one side of the TIGERS pool is made of glass, so the public can see the handlers and the animals up close swimming together
Picture: BARCROFT MEDIA

Despite the apparent danger, the trainers are never at risk. They've found that in the water people and tigers are on a more equal footing, Picture: BARCROFT MEDIA

With a potential to grow to over 500 lbs and eight feet in length, it is often considered that handlers will only swim with the tigers when they are no more than a year old, Picture: BARCROFT MEDIA

But TIGERS say that depends entirely on the specific animal
Picture: BARCROFT MEDIA