The other day, a friend and I were talking about Russell Crowe for some reason and his seeming lack of a sense of humor (in my friend's opinion) and the tigers in "Gladiator" that he fights in the arena.

It was one of those random conversations that turned into a big philosophical debate between us and I am just curious to see what other people think about it.

My friend said it would be funny if the tigers had eaten Russell Crowe and I said that it wouldn't because then the poor tigers would have to be put down. And just for the record, I do like Russell Crowe.

He was appalled by this position and said something along the lines of never trusting me with his life.

I told him, "Oh don't worry, if you were about to be attacked by a tiger and I had a rifle I would shoot the tiger to save your life."

He then asked if it were a person I didn't know, would I shoot a tiger to save that person's life? 

I honestly had to answer that I am not sure.  It would depend on the circumstances.  

For one thing, it is part of a tiger's nature to hunt.  I cannot say that I think it is wrong for a tiger to eat humans, even though I would rather not be one of those humans, and would rather it not be any of my friends or family either.  

The scenario my friend imagined and questioned me at length about was this:

If I were hanging out in my front yard (assuming I had a house with a yard) and someone were hanging out, say, sunbathing and asleep in the yard next door and I just happened to have a rifle in my hands, and a tiger came prowling up the street and looked like it was going to attack the sunbather, would I shoot that tiger? Assuming I do not know the first thing about the sunbather?

I don't know.  Maybe I would. Maybe I would run inside and call Animal Control instead and leave it to them. 

I would not want to be the cause of death of that tiger if I could avoid it.  Granted, if the tiger is prowling a residential area, it is probably going to end up dead anyway.

If the sunbather was a little child, or even a teenager, I would shoot the tiger.  Likewise if it was a woman.  

If it was a man...I just don't know.  I would definitely try to scare it off.  But I am not sure I would shoot it.

The thing is, we're running out of tigers.  We are not in any danger of running out of people.

Also, tigers are not cutting down the rainforest. Tigers are not polluting the ocean and the air.  Tigers are not anally electrocuting other animals for the use of their fur.  Tigers are doing what it is in their nature to do.

What would you do? I am curious to know.