Backyard Tigers

Welcome to Backyard Tigers, the site of photographer and photo journalist, Don Lewis. Please take a moment to learn more about Backyard Tigers, explore available eBooks and printed publications or view unique moments captured by the lens of Don Lewis in the Photography Gallery. Prints are also available online through ArtistRising.com.

It is generally believed that Phoenician traders smuggled...

It is generally believed that Phoenician traders smuggled some cats out of Egypt during the first millennium BCE, despite the […]

The history of the domestic cat embodies a paradox...

The history of the domestic cat embodies a paradox. No other animal has been so loved yet so despised, so […]

Although condemned by the Inquisition...

Although condemned by the Inquisition, favorable views of the cat occasionally surfaced in the popular literature of the period. Charles […]

I am apt to treat him with respect from the idea...

I am apt to treat him with respect from the idea he may be a great prince incognito, and may […]

Animals which symbolized courage and audacity...

“Animals which symbolized courage and audacity in battle, such as the lion and the leopard, were much featured in heraldry. […]

The near extermination of the cat was a by-product of the Inquisition...

The near extermination of the cat was a by-product of the Inquisition, a period of violent reaction against people, and […]

Murdered by the Church, or a brief depiction of the religious horrors

Murdered by the Church, or a brief depiction of the religious horrors of the middle-ages, and how a tyrannical clergy […]

Feline History

"Cats, whether hungry or not, are inclined to kill snakes, a survival adaptation, perhaps, in a region where venomous species abound. A constant peril to the Eqyptians, especially during harvest, the snake frequently symbolized the principle of evil...."