Azizah Al-Manie Okaz I RECENTLY read that a cheetah was on the loose in the streets of Madinah after it escaped from the owner's house. The wild animal was moving around the neighborhood causing panic and great fear among passersby and shoppers. It was caught by police officers after a long chase. The cheetah's owner was asked to write an undertaking at the police station that he would take good care of the animal and never let it loose again. At the outset, I didn't believe the news. That was it? An undertaking only? He let this ferocious animal on the street putting so many lives at risk and sending shivers in the spines of everyone who saw the animal and causing the authorities to close several roads in order to catch it, and the owner got away by signing an undertaking. A few days ago at Riyadh's busy Tahliah Street, a young man strutted down the street with a lion cub on a leash. He was obviously showing off. Last year, a tiger escaped from the owner's house and kept roaming the street until it was shot dead. It seems that many have taken up the hobby of raising ferocious animals in their homes inside residential neighborhoods. People love to imitate the behavior of others. Those who have a lot of money but don't have the right brains might decide to take up this hobby and buy a ferocious animal and even flaunt it in front of their peers and others. We will always get the predictable results from this behavior: those ferocious animals escape from houses and roam the streets posing extreme threats to passersby. Wild animals are dangerous even if their sharp canine teeth have been removed. We should have a law in place that poses severe penalties on those who raise such ferocious animals at home. People's safety is a serious matter. Those who love raising wild animals should take them away from residential neighborhoods. We should take the initiative now and have a law banning this practice instead of waiting until some innocent individual pays the ultimate price with his life for such a dangerous hobby.
