No. By winning its trust you might be able to tame it to a degree but a lion cannot be trusted, especially around children. It has been scientifically proven that the difference between a wild animal and an animal that can be tamed lies in the size of its adrenal glands – the larger have very large adrenal glands as compared to other smaller animals such as rabbits, for example. A lion may respond to human care and training but that does not mean it is tame.

NO!

No even a fairly tame lion is still a wild animal. You can't expect it to react like a domestic animal.

No, no matter how cute or cuddly or wonderful you may think they are even some domesticated animals can kill a human. People are often hospitalized for simple cat bites and scratches. Imagine what a Lion could do.

I am sure through conditioning a lion could be tamed to be a show lion and preform commands and tricks, but it still might break out and show behaviors which it thinks are normal. Look at what happened with Seigfried and Roy in Vegas. Cats scratch by accident, lions can kill.

Doubtful. One thing, if your dog bites you, you can kick his butt. If a lion bites you, he's going to eat you.

Nope... You can't even tame a pet cat to the level of a pet dog.

Absolutely not. There are animals like cats, dogs and parrots that can be domesticated, i.e., trusted. There are other animals that can be tamed, i.e., controlled. But they are still wild animals! And you had jolly well better have a Plan B (like tear gas) if you hope never to be hurt or killed! You can tame a wolf (for example) like a dog--but make one mistake and there's blood all over the place. Make one mistake with a lion... come to think of it, one mistake is all you get. Category 3 would be animals that can't ever be controlled or tamed.

Well, I would have to say, that depends on the DOG! How many people are killed by dogs every year? Rotweilers and bulldogs especially. Nevertheless, if you're looking for a pet, a lion is a really bad idea, because although they're terribly affectionate and generally loving and protective of their masters, they: A: Can't control their instinct to attack a person who appears injured. B: May do the same to any sort of person they have not been exposed to (for instance, if they haven't seen a child before, they will identify children as some sort of prey that it's ok to kill - or women, or men, or people with eyeglasses, etcetera) C: May without rhyme or reason become possessive - of a person, of a coat, of a pile of leaves or of course food - and find itself inexplicably motivated to defend it without warning from anyone who gets near it with tooth and claw. D: Even if it proves to be able to control its instincts in dealing with other life forms, well, if you've ever seen the amount of havoc a small kitten can raise, have no doubt, a lion can destroy a house. Now, of course, this varies between individuals. I saw a documentary about a lioness who refused to harm a baby gazelle and she almost starved to death in the act of protecting it and refusing to be a predator before another lion killed the gazelle and snapped her out of it. And I'm sure that some have it within them to not be dangerous if raised in a loving home. Animals couldn't be domesticated if their wild relatives didn't have any occurrences of the genes desirable for domestication. But the thing is, you're playing Russian Roulette if you bet on this. Which goes back to what I said about dogs. A whole lot of people are killed by dogs every year. A whole lot. So obviously not all dogs can be trusted. I have no doubt that the most trustworthy lion is far more trustworthy than the least trustworthy dog. Or even an average dog. But the odds are against you. You're playing Russian Roulette either way, but with the lion, there are more bullets in the gun. In fact, I would go as far as to say that among every member of the cat family, a lion is THE worst possible choice of all for a pet. Get a leopard and you will probably do better, though it's a close second. A tiger is much smarter and easier to train, and won't hurt you if it likes you - not deliberately at least.... if it likes you.... and they're far more in control of their instincts than lions. But a tiger in a playful mood may do a lot of non-deliberate harm, too. A snow leopard or a clouded leopard is not going to kill you (no human deaths from either one in recorded history as of the writing of the book 'Leopards in the Snow' around 1980 in fact - don't know if it's still true but it probably is - but even if it isn't, that track record sure beats dogs, and considering the SIZE of a snow leopard, that's really impressive!) but it'll still probably be too much for you to handle in an indoor environment. A cougar/mountain lion is borderline. Give it lots of love and pamper it and if you're lucky it'll love you back and not wreck the whole joint. And only a score of people in recorded history have been killed by them. It's only recently now that they're getting desperate for territory to survive in that some people are getting killed. But still, a far higher fraction of humans kill humans than the fraction of cougars that kill humans. Compare that to the millions that have been killed by humans. (Of course, to be fair, though they for the most part know to leave humans alone, they've not figured that out for cattle, and farmers are likely to kill them on sight for this). Nevertheless, it's not really fair to keep one restrained to an urban environment even though it'll probably adapt to it pretty well. If you absolutely positively have your heart set on a big cat as a pet (and you responsibly ought to expect it to be at least a part-time job, and should involve it in a captive breeding program as there aren't a lot of them around), a cheetah is the most sensible. Of course, in that case, it's an endangered species. That alone is a reason for it to be irresponsible to keep one as a pet. And again it is best not if you're in an urban environment. They really need to run and play in an open environment, and some coward is likely to pull out his gun and shoot it 'for the good of humanity' as it runs and plays outside. If you live in the boondocks, in the middle of the forest, in wide open plains, with no one around for miles, then MAYBE. But take heed. Thousands of exotic pets have to be relieved of their owners every year because the owners underestimate what goes into their care. Some of the owners are abusive. Others just cry when they see their grocery bills, having to shell out big bucks for 2 or 3 pounds of meat a day for a cougar or a cheetah or more like 8 for a tiger, and it rarely ends well, as sweet and loving as the animal may in fact be to the surprise of anyone who has the image of a savage beast. There are a few people out there, like Betty Young in Arkansas who keeps like 50 tigers in her house. And they don't hurt her. But most people don't have the resources or the will to handle it.

No probably not, it's pretty much impossible to settle the lion's instincs, unlike the dog's.

No probably not, it's pretty much impossible to settle the lion's instincs, unlike the dog's.

For the sake of simplicity, you not only tamed a lion, you tamed it to be docile. But, the problem now is size. What if the lion gently roles over you? Gives you a kitty massage, or snags a claw in you by accident? The results are serious. Lets say the lion is further tamed to were it sits around cleaning itself and sleeping all day. If you fell asleep next him while he is gently licking your arm, and hour and half later, you will be clean down to the bone. Just the tongue can do that. If size matters, this is an example. This matter of size was mentioned in an earlier answer. by Jacklynn

ever hear of christian the lion? he was rather domesticated. http://youtube.com/results?search_query=christian+the+lion&search_type=&aq=0&oq=christian

It can never be so loyal!