HOUSTON ZOO – Even at a zoo, you rarely get to interact with lions and tigers when raw meat is involved.

“It did seem provocative,” recalled Jesse Ayala. “The whole atmosphere just was very chaotic. There were people yelling and screaming for the folks who were hanging on to the rope to pull on the rope.”

While visiting the Houston Zoo recently, Ayala, a Houston attorney, recorded a short clip of video which is now posted on YouTube.

It shows caretakers at the Houston Zoo taking a 20-pound chunk of raw meat tied onto a rope and tossing it into a lion’s pen.

Guests then got to tug on the rope.

It happened in December, two days after a tiger escaped and at the San Francisco Zoo and killed a teenage boy.

Animal behaviorist Louis Dorfman says playing tug of war with a lion eating meat does nothing more than taunt the animal.

“It’s reinforcing he should hate humans being around because humans will try to take his most precious possession which is his food away from him,” Dorfman explained.

“I think if you get the complete story you can understand it better,” added Rick Barongi, Houston Zoo Director.

The Houston Zoo said this practice is nothing dangerous. It’s done once a month as a form of enrichment.

It’s designed, Barongi says, to keep the animals from getting bored.

“This meat is [a] treat,” Barongi said. “They’re not starving. These guys get fed. They have a full compliment of diet before this is done. That was a big key to this argument. They get aggressive over food. They do if they’re hungry. We don’t do it if they’re hungry. This is an extra treat for the animals.”

The Houston Zoo says it has let guests play this rare form of tug of war in a controlled setting for three years.

“When he wants to walk away with it he walks away,” explained Kevin Hodge, Carnivore Supervisor, Houston Zoo. “There’s nothing we can do to hold him back. He kind of lets us know when he wants to play and we go along with that.”

But Ayala thinks the zoo should reconsider this type of treat.

Though the lion acts submissive and was raised as a pet, Ayala and others worry, if provoked, the cat could act on animal instincts.