In this video, National Zoo Great Cats curator Craig Saffoe explains why taking care of the National Zoo’s lion cubs — who had a limited debut this weekend — involves actually involves more work than just sitting there and fawning over how freakin’ cute they are. For the several DCist commenters who have expressed the desire to take one of these things home with them: we thought you should know that the zookeepers have the exact same desire.

“Caring for the cubs can be pretty challenging, in that we have to stay away,” Saffoe explains in the footage. “The initial desire for everyone is to run and put your hands on them.”

See, even the people whose job it is to interact with these things every single day want to abduct them.