It all began one night when he was 23 years
old. He had a dream in which an Indian Chief told him to 'follow the
ways of the tiger". It didn't occur to Dennis that Indian Chiefs
live in the US and tigers don't, so maybe the dream guy meant it in
a more metaphorical way, like "Getmore rest, Dennis!", since
tigers sleep a lot, being cats and all. And it must be the rare Amphibitiger
that's got the scales on their hands and arms...I don't think I've
seen a photo of one. Hunh! But it's good that
Dennis is a nice man, because if someone Kook had a dream like that,
they might have gone on some bizarre violent tiger thing. I know the
tigers here at the zoo will turn their butts to you and squirt you
with their urine - like 10 feet! - when they get mad and I know
Dennis doesn't do that. Or I sure hope so.
Anyway, the first thing Dennis did was get his eyes
tattooed and since then he's spent over $150,000, 2,000 hours and
almost 25 years undergoing incredible modifications to attain his
dream of becoming a tiger. A real one.