In ‘Cheetah House,’ toddlers play with adopted cheetahs

One South African couple is hand-raising cheetahs alongside their young children.

Featured in the documentary "Cheetah House," the Schoeman family embraces the big cats as if they were domestic kittens.

The young cheetahs, Wakku and Skyla, live and play with toddlers Kayla Schoeman, 1, and her brother, Malan, 3.

Parents Hein and Kim Schoeman are animals trainers on the Abertinia animal reserve where the 1-year-old cheetahs were born. They decided that hand-raising the animals would give them a greater chance at survival, as the cheetah's mother didn't seem capable of caring for her entire litter.

"At the end of the day, it all boils down to how humans and nature can live together and respect each other. That's what it’s about," Hein Schoeman said in a Skype interview with ABC News.

Watch the unconventional family in action below:

"When you raise them, it's extremely strict. You need to establish dominance and respect first of all and maintain that," Schoeman said of raising the wild animals.

The Schoemans' won't be keeping the felines forever. They are currently teaching the cheetahs to hunt so that they can survive on their own in the wild.

While the Schoemans call themselves "very lucky" to have such an extraordinary experience with the gorgeous, gentle animals, all experts agree: Don't try this at home.

"No, it's not a good idea because this is not something you're going to go out and do yourself," Jack Hanna, director emeritus of the Columbus Zoo in Ohio, told ABC News, adding that once the cheetahs return to the wild, the family will only observe them from a distance.

"So when they go visit their cheetah out in the wild someday, they'll be in that land rover, seeing that beautiful creature out there 100, 200 yards away. That's how far they’ll stay away from it. Let him be a cheetah."

But for now, there's still plenty of quality cuddle time in the Schoeman household.