I’m not the only one questioning the “helpful tiger” hypothesis. From Animal Experts Say Tiger Meant to Kill Roy:
“The cat wasn’t trying to protect him,” said Jonathan Kraft, who runs the Arizona-based nonprofit group Keepers of the Wild. “That was a typical killing bite.”“I admire the guys, I just think they are sending a wrong message,” Kraft said. “The message needs to be: These are wild animals.”
[...]
Louis Dorfman, a Dallas animal behaviorist, said Fischbacher’s account of an accidental mauling was ‘a beautiful story but it just doesn’t wash.’‘Stress led to the bite,’ said Dorfman, who works with the International Exotic Feline Sanctuary in Texas. ‘It was an outlet for his irritation. Roy got lucky.’