This could be Messi the Russian puma. He is incredibly small for a puma so a couple have been looking after him and he seems to be doing very well with them last I heard!
Pumas don't dislike water as much as some other cats. They're not quite as good swimmers as Jaguars, but some of them live on islands and swim for over a kilometer to go to new territory.
Maybe it was young and hungry. If the big hairless bear gives you food and water, you might think it's only fair to let it touch you.
And typing this, this sounds awfully child-abuse-y. I want to emphasize, that I'm referring to large cats and petting in a manor appropriate for felines.
You get them from a young age and train them. They actually have different personalities and some can be very friendly. They do actually act a lot like cats and will do things like rub up against your leg and lick you and stuff (they like salt on your sweat. But there tongue is like sandpaper and they can lick the skin off), they also do cat like things and look at you like they will kill you and occasionally try to scratch your face off. A friend of my wrestled with one until the person he was working with finished his piss and could help out.
They like water or at least some of them do.
They aren't that big and strong but they are fast like a cat. The one I looked after probably didn't want to actually kill anyone so maybe it wasn't going 100%.
I worked in a dodgy animal sanctuary for animal that couldn't be released into the wild.
Our orange has a brutal sandpaper tongue. I've had a few other cats but his is by far the most painful, and he happens to be the most cuddly one as well.
Adult males can grow to an excess of 8 feet in length,
including the tail, and weigh an average of 140-150 pounds. They're plenty big and strong to murder people.