Contemplation

[RBSinTo]

This was taken about 15 years ago at Northwood, a now-gone game preserve north and east of Toronto.
After visiting it with a photo group, I went back a number of times with my mother, wife and our two children, all animal lovers.
On this particular visit, our daughter's first, she became transfixed by the Tiger, and squatted close to the fence just watching the beautiful creature, for about a half hour.
As she told me later, she was wondering if she could stick her hand through the fence and just touch his paw. Apparently the preserves owner saw her and walked up behind her, and sensing what she was thinking, quietly whispered, "Not a good idea. If you stick your hand in, he'll tear it off and eat it for lunch."
When I showed this picture to Joanna the other day, she sighed and said that she is probably destined to die at the hands of some large member of the cat family when she just can't help herself and tries to play with it.
motorized Nikon F2AS
Nikkor 180 2.8 ED AIS manual focus
Ektachrome 100 ISO colour slide
exposure probably 2.8 @ 1/500th

[Rebel]

I like this shot Robert, you can sense a sort of connection between the tiger and your daughter.

[Shadowman]

Nice capture.

[IzzieK]

Maybe you should give her the experience of working with animals from a zoo or reserved for wildlife. This is a beautiful shot, Robert. I applaud your daughter for being so brave...

[Sergio M.]

Robert, a great composition that really shows the interaction going on between your daughter and the tiger.

Sergio

[RBSinTo]

Thanks, all for the comments.
Izzie,
It's not just the big cats that attract our children. It's creatures of all sizes and species.
As a toddler at our zoo, Joanna ran under a fence and raced out into the Rhino enclosure to play with the "big doggie". Knowing my wife would likely be upset if I didn't retrieve her, I sprinted into the enclosure to get her back.
She and her younger brother have played with Lion cubs and Wolves, and Joanna has played with Tiger cubs as well as an adult Cougar which she petted until it rolled over and started to purr. And of course she insisted on playing with a baby Monkey until it's mother finally reached through the bars and grabbed her hair to make her stop.
As an adult while in Australia, despite being warned about feeding Dingos, when they appeared she was the one who said, "Oh look! Dingos. Let's feed them".
Truthfully I don't know why she isn't living in Africa on a game preserve surrounded by big cats, and the like.
Robert