One of the guys in my unit (509th RR GROUP) went to the Saigon market and bought a tiger cub. The CO told him to take it back. So he traded it for an elephant which he kept just outside the wire. MPs shot it.
FWIW, in 1972 MACV MP COMMAND HQ in SAIGON had a SNOW LEOPARD kitten as a "pet". = Miss ANN MARGRET had her picture taken, "cuddling with" the cat.
(Fyi, LOTS of GIs wanted to change places with the cat.--- ME, TOO.)
FYI, "on a dare" she KISSED every MP in the HQ that day & later said that her lips were REALLY SORE after that.
Another comment reference ANN MARGRET & the MPs: When Saigon fell, the LIFESIZE NUDE (Signed by ANN MARGRET with, "I LOVE every one of my MPs. I'm your forever sweetheart. LOVE FOREVER, Ann.) , which had been displayed at MP HQ was flown out of RVN.
When the RADICAL FEMINISTS demanded that ALL pin-ups of beautiful women were to be removed from all places on government property, the ANN MARGRET nude was specifically complained about. - The PROVFOST MARSHAL GENERAL officially designated that that Ann MARGARET photo was a NATIONAL TREASURE & that the photo was EXEMPT from the order of "NO scantily clad photos of women".
Her photo is on display, in a place of honor at the US Army Military Police Museum..