Tiger Temple

Tiger Temple, or Wat Pha Luang Ta Bua, is a Theravada Buddhist temple in western Thailand that was founded in 1994 as a forest temple and sanctuary for wild animals, among them several tigers.

The temple is located in the Saiyok district of Thailand's Kanchanaburi province, not far from the border with Myanmar, some 38 km (24 mi) north-west of Kanchanaburi along the 323 highway.

The tigers

In 1999, the temple received the first tiger cub, that had been found by villagers and died soon after. Later, several tiger cubs were given to the temple over time, typically when the mothers had been killed by poachers, others who wanted to get rid of their tiger "pets" or those were under pressure to do so as laws and policies surrounding the keeping of protected species became more strict. As of 2007, over 21 cubs had been born at the temple, and the total number of tigers was about 12 adult tigers and 4 cubs. As of late March 2011, the total number of tigers living at the temple has risen to almost 90

The Tiger Temple practices a different conservation philosophy than in the west. Being a forest monastery no alcohol is allowed on site. Additionally "appropriate" clothing must be worn by women covering their shoulders and knees so as not to offend the working monks within the site. No bright coloured [red] clothes, no sleeveless or strapless tops or shorts/mini skirts for women. Additionally, no shawls or wraps for the upper or lower body should be worn.

The temple charges 600 Baht admission (fee correct as of March 2011). Day trips are also available from Bangkok and the journey takes 2-2.5hours. The temple has 300 to 600 visitors a day. There are donation boxes in various locations around the temple for those who wish to support the sanctuary. It is also possible for visitors to pay to join the volunteers in the tigers' morning or evening exercise programme. A maximum of 20 guests can do this at the one time. According to temple staff, it costs about 100 USD per tiger per day for the tigers' feeding and care. There are western staff on site selling the additional services although the handlers tend to be local Thai females.

Guests can also pay to engage in other activities with the tigers. These include bottle feeding tiger cubs, exercising adolescent tigers, bathing tigers, hand-feeding tigers and posing with sleeping adult tigers.

The tigers are washed and handled by Thai monks, international volunteers and local staff. Once a day they are walked on leashes to a nearby quarry. Originally they would roam around freely in this area but now, with the increase in visitors and the amount of tigers who sit in the canyon, they are chained for safety reasons. The staff closely guide visitors as they greet, sit with, and pet the cats. The staff keep the tigers under control and the abbot will intervene if the tiger gets agitated. Nervous tourists may also observe this from about 10 metres away. The temple claims the entry fee is for feeding and upkeep, and to fund the building of a larger tiger sanctuary which would allow the animals to live in an almost natural environment all day long. Some parts of the new sanctuary are open and inhabited with tigers, i.e. Tiger Falls and other parts are still in construction as they are awaiting the right type of fencing around the moat. The temple is also reforesting a large amount of land nearby ('Buddhist Park') in order to give tigers a chance to be released into the wild in the future.

Due to the lack of managed breeding programmes and publicly available DNA data the pedigree of the tigers is not known for certain, but it is thought that they are Indochinese Tigers, except Mek who is a Bengal Tiger. There is also a possibility that there may be some of the newly discovered Malayan Tigers and it is likely that many are cross breeds or hybrids.

Critique

Some claim the Tiger Temple's philosophy for animal conservation is flawed. An organization named Care for the Wild International claimed that based on information collected between 2005 and 2008 the Tiger Temple is involved in clandestine exchange of tigers with the owner of a tiger farm in Laos contravening the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species and national laws of Thailand and Laos. It claimed it operates as a tiger breeding facility without having a respective license as required under the Thai Wild Animals Reservation and Protection Act of 1992. It also claims animal welfare problems at the Tiger Temple are severe and include poor accommodation, lack of appropriate environments and veterinary care, and physical abuse of the tigers to make them compliant for visiting tourists.

However, most of the claims in the internet, and the information in the report are the same (some think it looks like a deliberate 'sting'), and Care for the Wild was previously not very well known. According to the report Care for the Wild did not find any evidence of the tigers being drugged. After the report, many press turned up at the temple but they were not able to substantiate the claims. Articles that look like they are negative are reporting the publication of the report and are not based on further evidence. The Thai government also investigated the temple again (although they had done so previously) and said that the tigers were well looked after. The temple has also been now given an official permit to breed tigers. It is also possible for any visitor to view the tiger accommodation, including Tiger Island, which is nearly completed.

Since the report by Care for the Wild International, a coalition of 39 prominent conservation groups, including the Humane Society International, the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, the World Society for the Protection of Animals and the World Wide Fund for Nature, have penned a letter to the Director General of National Parks in Thailand under the name 'The International Tiger Coalition. This letter urges the Director General to take action against the Tiger Temple over its import and export of 12 tigers with Laos, its lack of connection with accredited conservation breeding programmes, and to genetically test the tigers at the Tiger Temple in order to determine their pedigree and value to tiger conservation programmes. It concludes that the 'Temple does not have the facilities, the skills, the relationships with accredited zoos, or even the desire to manage its tigers in an appropriate fashion. Instead, it is motivated both in display of the tigers to tourists and in its illegal trading of tigers purely by profit.

View Larger Map