Do you love tigers enough to not cuddle them?

Were there a planet-wide vote on which animal was the most awesome, the mighty tiger would win by a landslide.

Beautiful, powerful, colorful and fuzzy, listening to their purring (called “chuffing”) has been said to cure cancer and induce orgasm. But tigers are wild, and we can’t be their friends.

Certainly we can understand why so many people, especially super cat-nerds, dream of frolicking with these fantastic fellows. After all everything worked out okay between the Hindu boy and Richard Parker in “Life of Pi,” right?

It didn’t end so well for 49-year-old Paul Goudie of Melbourne, Australia, who survived mauling at one of Thailand’s many “tiger petting zoos” earlier this month for reasons that are still unclear. It was great of Paul to hold no malice against the animal, which after all, was just being the thing that it is, the wild beautiful thing Goudie wanted so badly to get close to.

We all fantasize about having awesome cat-people to pal around with and go on adventures.

But tigers are wild, and humans are made of soft tasty parts. As wonderful as it sounds, we will and should never have tiger pals to cuddle like we do with Mr. Slippers and the other small, less wild versions we keep as housecats.

Tigers are great, but if we really want to be their friends, we wouldn’t patronize the temples and bogus “sanctuaries” that keep them captive, and according to animal psychologists, activists and investigative reports, cause them great harm.

Such places give “people the warped idea that these animals are little more than cuddly kitties who can be used and abused for our entertainment,” said the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals in response.

“Attacks by captive big cats on people – which occur with staggering regularity – illustrate the profound level of stress, anxiety and agitation these animals experience every day of their lives,” PETA wrote. “In captivity, they cannot engage in any of the activities that give their lives meaning.”

Still thousands of tourists lined up every year to pay about THB1,000 to cavort with a tiger.

And for some weird reason, that napping-with-a-tiger fantasy seems like a pretty big deal with them, according to these photos.