She probably raised the liger from a cub and bottle-fed it, so it sees her as part of the cat family. Doesn't mean it wouldn't see a stranger as recreational calories, though. ;)
Where does a 1000 lb. kitty sit? Anywhere it wants to....
One time, some years ago, when I was on a safari in Kenya & Tanzania, a woman in our group wanted to "adopt" an orphaned lion cub. She was all animated and enthusiastic about the prospect.
At first, the tour guide treated it lightly, but when she began attempting to find out how to set up such a transfer from Kenya to the States, the guide sat her down and told her very forcefully that even if she raised a lion from a cub, the adult animal could turn on her without warning, at specific times of her monthly cycle.
The guide then gave some graphic details of several cases where that precise episode occurred. She never talked about importing a lion cub again.
Then, of course, there is the tragic story of Roy and the white Bengal tiger, who mauled him on stage in Las Vegas. No one knows - or probably ever will know if the tiger actually attacked Roy, or was trying to protect him. I opt for the former. I believe that it was an attack, not a mistaken perception on the part of the cat, that Roy was in danger. Why would that be? The cats did nightly shows in front of audiences all the time. Why would one woman with a "bouffant" hair style suddenly cause that cat to lunge at his master?
Even though the cat was fully trained and treated at all times as a "pet" and part of the family, it was still a wild animal and therefore unpredictable.
Char