While roughhousing with two of his Siberian tiger cubs, Craig Wagner loses track of their brother, Deisel. Until that is, the half-grown tiger rises on its hind legs behind Craig's back an wraps its paws the size of boxing gloves around his chest. Now Craig knows exactly where Deisel is. Deisel's claws, which can puncture a lung, are currently retracted.

We'll get back to Craig in a minute.

Last spring, Cindy Blakenship wrote an article for Southern Exposure Magazine on activities for kids in our area. It gradually dawned on us that kids are pretty much constantly looking for things to do, so we decided to create a regular feature on things for kids to do in Southern Oregon. Like wrestling with Siberian tigers or at least watching an expert do it.

Craig Wagner is that expert. Federally licensed to own and show big cats, Craig owns and manages Great Cats World Park, which opened this summer just outside Cave Junction. Although Craig has had a few hospital visits and thousands of stitches in decades of working with big cats, no skin or bones were broken that Sunday afternoon in the tiger pen.

Craig isn't interested in just showing off his cats, and Great Cats is not a zoo. He has several different species of wild cats in the 10-acre site along Highway 199, including Bengal and Siberian tigers, several kinds of leopards, and African lions. Every day he works with the cats, training them to snarl, leap, jump, run, climb or simulate an attack, all on cue.

Craig's cats are performers. They get regular work as magazine and calendar models and TV and movie stars. They have performed with Siegfried and Roy and performed for famous photographers. They'll perform for you too. Craig puts the cats through their paces daily at Great Cats and you can watch for $10; $7 if you're under 13. (541) 592-2957 or Great Cats World Park