When exotic pets attack: Deadly animal encounters

>>> so i turn to the dog like this, telling her to get back. when i did that, i rotated this hand right in front of the snake. it has those heat-sensing pits on the side and all of a sudden it was a warm target and immediately, boom, it just nailed me right on the finger. the finger is a little bit stiff but it's still on there. thank god for anti-venom.

>> a clip from animal planet 's " fatal attraction ," devastating consequences that can come about when a person shares a home with an exotic animal . dave salmoni , large predator ex-pert from animal planet . chris rock has a great bit talking about the siegfried and roy. everybody is saying that tiger went crazy. chris rock says no, that tiger went tiger . what are these people thinking he they live with these large, dangerous predators?

>> i think it's a combination between these people have a big heart, want ay connection between these animals and some people think it will work out better than it does for other people.

>> match.com, right? i mean, what is it, though?

>> people think they'll not be the ones that get attacked. i spent most of my life with wild animals . i went to school for it did apprenticeships for it. i studied them for 12 years before i had relationships with lions and tigers and certainly don't have them in my house. they see an animal and feel that compassion to be with it, to have that relationship. i think they take it too far. it won't happen to me. it will love me, i'll love it and love is enough which obviously never really works out.

>> you have a formal training which a lot of these people that are victimized don't. back to the tiger goes tiger , i see you on animal planet , rolling around with lions. is there something in the back of your mind that says maybe i shouldn't be doing this?

>> shouldn't and -- i don't know if i shouldn't or if it's more about that i know it can happen. i know that i'm not the guy that can say, hey, it's never going to happen to me. if it happens to me, it's because i knew the risks and i took them. so, yeah, i definitely feel like because people do see me rolling around with lions, that's probably the impetus for people who see --

>> you're trained.

>> when fatal attraction comes out, i like to put the message out there. you really can't have it. these are not pets. i don't treat them like pets and you really shouldn't.

>> how do you train to wrestle with a tiger , to mess with giant snakes, to play with chimps?

>> for me, i have degrees in zoology and i went to a place that handled the animals that i want to be around and learned from those types of people. the first thing you learn is the fact that it can go wrong. my first year of training i got attacked by a male lion and it nearly killed me and before that i would have said hey, guys, this guy loves me, he needs me, we're best friends . then my best friend tried to kill me and it's like, that's a great lesson.

>> do you see, to the point you made, maybe people see you playing and they say i can do that, too. do we see more people now than before living with exotic animals? is there a way to measure it?

>> " fatal attraction " comes out at 9:00, i think, on friday. those people are -- it's definitely growing. it's far easier for people now than even five years ago. if you want a snake, if you want a tiger , for some reason -- maybe it's the internet. maybe it's that people are getting into it more so there's more money in it. it's definitely happening a lot more.

>> how do you get a tiger , if i may ask.

>> black market. it's the same way people get their drugs, i guess.

>> don't try this at home!

>> it looks like a great show. you're a brave man. be safe. hopefully, you can teach people that it's not okay rather than the opposite, to live with these kinds of animals. dave salmoni . catch animal planet 's "fatal attractions" this friday 9:00 pm eastern and