Thread: Kanchanaburi Tiger Temple

have the Tigers shitting in the cars with the air con on high!!!!

Not a bad idea although I see no need for aircon.

Originally Posted by dirtydog

About Sri Racha Tiger Zoo.

And on 1st May a teenage worker at the zoo tragically died after being mauled by six tigers in front of more than 100 shocked tourists.
"She passed away in hospital," a spokeswoman from the Sri Racha Tiger Zoo southeast of Bangkok said, declining to elaborate on the attack that took place on Thursday. Media reports said 18-year-old Uraiwan Sansern received deep wounds and a cracked spine when she was set upon by six Bengal tigers she was handling for the benefit of tourists.
"Some tourists outside the enclosure tried to scare away the tigers by knocking on the glass panes, but the glass was too thick," a zoo tour guide told the Nation newspaper, saying the visitors were from China and Korea. It said fellow workers used sticks to chase the tigers away, but that Uraiwan was already severely mauled by the time help arrived.
The young worker was reportedly untrained to handle the dangerous animals, and was trying to make a tiger sit for tourists by hitting it with a stick when the attack occurred.

Sri Racha Tiger Zoo

Tigers don't have sticks to hit back, only big teeth and sharp claws, and like most animals they don't like being beaten.

Sorry to be a spoiler but anyone visiting Sriracha Tiger zoo should make sure not to miss the piglet race. The course runs from the starting pen, where the piglets are tormented by Thais brandishing sticks, all the way to guess where, yep, their home pen, so naturally once the gate releases them they run like fok to the safety of home while the farangs cheer, but to be fair most of them can't be bothered figuring out how these racing piglets are so well trained.

Was there 3-4 years ago ,but it looks now to have become more commercial .

Thai tiger temple a con job, says wildlife group
By Nirmal Ghosh, Thailand Correspondent
Mon, Jun 23, 2008
The Straits Times

BANGKOK - THAILAND'S famed tiger temple, where monks walk around with tigers - and make money from tourists - is facing accusations that it is a con job, where tigers are traded on the quiet with Laos in violation of the law.

Making the claim is the Britain-based conservation organisation Care for the Wild International (CWI), which this week released a report based on an extensive investigation of the Wat Pa Luangta Bua Yannsampanno in Kanchanaburi.

The 28-page report - much of it a contribution by a volunteer working undercover at the temple - details extensive abuse and exploitation of the tigers.

It also warns of a grave risk to tourists from tigers which, though physically weakened and psychologically cowed, are stressed out and therefore volatile - and have been known to injure staff and volunteers.

The report also reproduces a document showing a deal between the abbot of the temple - which styles itself as a tiger rescue centre - and a tiger trader in Laos to exchange a tiger for breeding purposes. Such a deal is illegal under Thai and international law.

The report was given to the Thai authorities last November, said Mr Guna Subramaniam of the CWI's Bangkok office. A reply was promised, but it never came, he said. Neither has any action been taken.

That led to the CWI's decision to release the report.

The temple has, in recent years, become Kanchanaburi's primary tourist attraction, surpassing even the famed bridge over the River Kwai.

Based on the number of visitors, entrance fees and the price for having a picture taken with a tiger's head on your lap - 1,000 baht (S$40) - the CWI estimated that the temple earned about 45 million baht to 50 million baht per year.

The estimates did not take donations into account.

Despite claims to the contrary, it added that 'the tiger temple makes no discernible contribution to tiger conservation'.

It said that the genetic make-up of the tigers is unknown, and the temple did not meet minimum standards for captive breeding for conservation.

Monks and staff let an average of about 10 of the 15 or so tigers out of their cages daily at 1pm. The tigers are walked on short leather and chain leashes to a small abandoned quarry, where they are tethered on short chains, and tourists are allowed to have their photographs taken with them.

The report said the tigers were kicked, poked, beaten, punched, dragged around by their tails, and had their ears and whiskers pulled.

It added that the abbot and staff control the tigers - which were malnourished and kept in small concrete cages - by spraying tiger urine in their faces.

This psychological tactic, which mirrors tigers' spraying of urine to mark their territory, aggressively establishes dominance and keeps the tigers cowed.

Though the temple does not have the necessary licence to breed tigers, it does so anyway. But the CWI said it was impossible to say accurately how many tiger cubs had been born at the temple, and how many had survived.

'It is clear that (the temple) is not a sanctuary for tiger cubs rescued from poachers, but a commercial tiger breeding centre. Most of the animals at the temple now have either been bred on site or were brought in from the tiger farm in Laos,' it said.

The report recorded cases of tigers disappearing overnight, and in some cases being replaced, in what appeared to be deals to exchange or sell tigers with a tiger farm in Laos.

Even some of the original eight 'rescued' tigers which formed the nucleus of the big cats at the temple eight years ago were not rescued - but bought from a wildlife trader, who confirmed this to the CWI.

Conservationists told The Straits Times that they were not surprised.

The conservation community had long suspected something was amiss at the temple, where the tigers seemed oddly docile. Allegations had been made in the past that the animals were doped, but this had never been proven.

Attempts to investigate such allegations had always been resisted by the temple.

This article was first published in The Straits Times on June 21, 2008.

asiaone.com

yeah no kidding. This is not news.

Remember the birdflu outbreak? About 80 tigers 'died' of that.... and were then sold onto China.

Has anybody seen the doc. on this place that was made by the tiger guy from NZ?

We visited this place 3 months ago and they flaunted the vid in the restaurant, where you get a free feed before entry..

I always thought the kiwi tiger bloke was on the level, if not a bit over the top. I wonder how he's reacting to this exposee.

I'm no tiger / animal expert but it was all a bit sad and depressing.

Isn't there any kind of UN/RSPCA group that can intervene?

Scandal after scandal. Farging monks, no less! Someone ought to tie THEM up and piss in THEIR faces, while they starve to death.

Originally Posted by November Rain

It'll only stop when 'animal loving' tourists realise what it's really like & stop financing the place.

yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep.

and that's gonna happen, when?

mind you, another way of looking at it, is that at least wild tigers are not being killed for this....

Originally Posted by kingwilly

mind you, another way of looking at it, is that at least wild tigers are not being killed for this...

Except the cubs might be poached given to Wat for growing then flogged

Dam, im in shock - was a really good doco on discovery about this place so i always wanted to go, not now thoe

Originally Posted by kingwilly

Quote: Originally Posted by November Rain It'll only stop when 'animal loving' tourists realise what it's really like & stop financing the place.

yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep. and that's gonna happen, when?

Originally Posted by k1klass

Dam, im in shock - was a really good doco on discovery about this place so i always wanted to go, not now thoe

There you go, KW, it'll happen when the word gets round and accepted. k1klass has just shown that. The morons who just want to look big 'cos they stroked a tiger will still go, but genuine animal lovers won't. I just hope the article gets picked up by some other agencies.

well, my daughter went there about a month ago, i refused as did me missus, she came back saddend, was,nt at all what she expected, and whilst on this journey and talking to many other 'tourists' much the same strain of conversation, they also were disheartened, but on that when we were in chaing mai we came across the tiger kingdom, only recently opened up, restuarent on two sides with the cats in the middle area, far more proffessional and also a breeding program and nursery, it will be interesting to see how this venture grows, out of all that i have seen this lot seem to care and have plans for the future, i think the place was on the road to the mae sa valley not quite sure maybe some of the locals could correct me although its only been open about 3 months

Originally Posted by kingwilly

Remember the birdflu outbreak? About 80 tigers 'died' of that.... and were then sold onto China.

KW: not the same place...what you're talking about was the tiger place in Sri Racha...

Despite my personal feelings about the TT it remains one of the most popular tours in my business. Most people who go there write enthusiastic emails about their experience.

Originally Posted by BugginOut

while they starve to death.

The tigers don't look malnourished to me. but I am certainly not a wild-life expert...

Originally Posted by klongmaster

TT it remains one of the most popular tours in my business

Maybe as a matter of principle you should remove it.

Originally Posted by Agent_Smith

Maybe as a matter of principle you should remove it.

On what basis AS: did you ever consider that the OPs report came from a private organisation who only gets money from 'exposes" (French 'e' but I forget how to make it on the keyboard...Frenchie where are you). They rank the same as NGOs in my book...they stated themselves that the report is based on a 'spy' planted at the Temple to gather 'evidence'...you can be sure the 'spy' had an opinion before s/he ever got there...

I'm not defending the Temple, but I certainly don't base my 'principles' on internet gossip...

I will say however, that I am currently arranging a visit for some wildlife 'experts' and will be very interested in their take of things...

I think they should let the tigers go free. Preferably in Pattaya.

Originally Posted by klongmaster

but I certainly don't base my 'principles' on internet gossip...

fair enough