Damnam1 Posted July 1, 2008 Report Share Posted July 1, 2008 Hi, several people here have pictures of tigers in their photo albums. Photos of tigers from the "tiger temple" Wat Pa Luangta Bua Yannasampano 2 1/2 hours by car west from BKK. On my last trip to Kanchanaburi I have been there and I have already wrote my opinion on this what they call a "project to preserve tiger wildlife". I had the impression, that the tigers were drugged and held in very poor conditions and not according to what they write in their brochures, they deal with tigers and therefore they will never, ever set them free again. Animal lovers, especially from wildlife trusts worldwide are now horrified and there is quite an uproar on the conditions the tigers have to live in.They call it plain animal cruelty. The activist have observed the temple over a period of three years and their conclusion is rather crushing. They say, the management (in the original article it is mentioned who is the management - in order to show respect I call them management) is illegally trading with tigers, they commit cruelty to animals, systematical physical cruelty,and the touristic contact to the tigers is highly dangerous. The organisation "Care for the wild" says that the only aim of the temple is to breed tigers and use them for merchandising their financial purposes. Animals are sold and others are imported from Laos. They are fed with utterly wrong food, cat and dog food, boiled chicken instead of essential raw meat. The managament says this is done in order to slow down their appetite for blood. But raw meat means vitamins and they dont provide any additional vitamins. The cages are rotten and dirty and the conditions are more than humble. They are forced to obey by use of sticks and stones and from what I have seen they are pulled by their tails to get in proper photo position. Far worse for the tigers in the opinion of "Care for the Wild" is the fact, that tigers are spattered with other tigers urine, which is "like a hammer on their head" because tigers use it to mark their territory. Have a look at the link below and click on the german sentence: Foto-Serie Das traurige Los der Tempeltiger to see that this is a sad but true fact. By this some tigers already display serious signs of abnormal behaviour and therefore they might get easily out of control. They say that it would be a matter of time only, till the first tourist will get seriously injured. I have the article in german only, but for those able to google it should be available in English worldwide: http://nachrichten.t-online.de/c/15/50/45/18/15504518.html So everybody should think about whether it is fun to go and see the tiger temple :evil: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
English_George Posted July 2, 2008 Report Share Posted July 2, 2008 ..I have been to the Tiger Temple and I haven't been to the website link given.. ...let's see what that brings they deal with tigers and therefore they will never, ever set them free again. ...They do deal with Tigers, but they deal with mostly hand reared tame ones, that would be as comfortable in the wild as a straight guy on soi 4.... ...and the survival rate in the wild around here kind of leans toward their sticking with the devil they know. quite an uproar on the conditions the tigers have to live in.They call it plain animal cruelty. ..They are squalid.....but better than the five star 'Junta' hotel nextdoor. the only aim of the temple is to breed tigers and use them for merchandising their financial purposes. ..and that is why all of the monks wear sunglasses But raw meat means vitamins and they dont provide any additional vitamins. ..I have met a man and a woman in the temple and they had both worked there for periods of more than a year...one was studying for a qualification and they other...I'm not sure... ...They were both obviously commited to their careers and the temple.. tigers are spattered with other tigers urine, which is "like a hammer on their head" because tigers use it to mark their territory. .....If that's what the Tigers do in the privacy of their own cages, then who are we to judge, that is irrelevant..... ...79 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stramash Posted July 2, 2008 Report Share Posted July 2, 2008 Really have to disagree with this one!!! have visitied the temple on a few occasions and have always been very impressed with the monks' attitude and obvious love they have for the tigers. Also my friend was lucky enough to work there for a year (she was a vet student) on placement and she sings the temple's praises constantly as well as doing lots of fundraising for them back in UK. Conditions arent perfect but the tigers have more feeedom than most zoos I have visited - would refute the idea that they are drugged at all - and they are trying to build a huge open area for them. Most of the tigers have been rescued when their parents have been hunted and killed so they would be too if they had not been taken in. :twisted: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Damnam1 Posted July 2, 2008 Author Report Share Posted July 2, 2008 Really have to disagree with this one!!! have visitied the temple on a few occasions and have always been very impressed with the monks' attitude and obvious love they have for the tigers. Also my friend was lucky enough to work there for a year (she was a vet student) on placement and she sings the temple's praises constantly as well as doing lots of fundraising for them back in UK.Conditions arent perfect but the tigers have more feeedom than most zoos I have visited - would refute the idea that they are drugged at all - and they are trying to build a huge open area for them. Most of the tigers have been rescued when their parents have been hunted and killed so they would be too if they had not been taken in. :twisted: I have been there last September and I was pretty much shocked about the poor conditions. So I just cannot understand how you can pretend that everything is okay there. Have you seen the monks biiiig limousine outside ? This is where the money goes ! The managment has denied to give away the tigers DNA to examine the origin. Why ? Easy to tell - because most of the tigers are not from Thailand, but illlegally imported from Laos taken out of laotian jungles. The animals in the "canyon" have made every impression of being drugged or tranqulized to me. You are taken by the hand of those guides and the crowd is rushed through within a couple of minutes. Everey tiger would get mad about his and try to attack. Even a monk cannot hypnotise the tigers. Sedativa are quite cheap and that is what they get to be calm. They constantly tell you that a special photo with the tiger is 1000 Baht and you get a plastic tiger tooth with it. Now this has nothing to do with serious wildlife protection. Why is it that more and more serious travel agencies in BKK no longer offer this tour ? Why do they keep telling that this temple might not be no longer open in near future ? They know about the truth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R.Win Posted July 2, 2008 Report Share Posted July 2, 2008 Tiger is way old man, it's Leopard (Leopard snow soon) nowadays Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
funky_house Posted July 2, 2008 Report Share Posted July 2, 2008 Tiger is way old man, it's Leopard (Leopard snow soon) nowadays Update 10.5.4 today. Oops! Are we going off topic? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
English_George Posted July 3, 2008 Report Share Posted July 3, 2008 TC9CKX ...whoops...that's my password for my multimillion pound Swiss bank account in Zurich.......how many cut and paste mistakes have led to disaster...??? the only aim of the temple is to breed tigers and use them for merchandising their financial purposes. ...Unfortunately, financial porpoises are all people are interested in these days ...79 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SiamHotel Posted July 3, 2008 Report Share Posted July 3, 2008 ........ oh reallyyyyy ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SiamHotel Posted July 3, 2008 Report Share Posted July 3, 2008 -- I(nd)I-- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SiamHotel Posted July 3, 2008 Report Share Posted July 3, 2008 d!: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
English_George Posted July 5, 2008 Report Share Posted July 5, 2008 ...bla bla bla... ...79 ....Oh deary me, ....writing "who gives a ****", is so ironically insightful..... ..obviously you do "Give a ****" Mr Hugo... ...and you probably have all this built up agression because you can't "Get a ****"......without "Giving a $" ...you got something else you want to say? ...79 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thaibel Posted July 5, 2008 Report Share Posted July 5, 2008 Well, I think I have to agree with the poster. I've never been there, but saw some documentaries about it and also read about it. Put them back in the wild is never an option. A wild animal who has brought up by humans and fed by humans and also has close contact with them, will never survive in the wild because they lack the hunting skills that their mother usually should have taught them. I was in Rajasthan (India) years ago and they have a nature reservation for tigers there, I think the name was Ranthambor. You could visit the reservation with a guide and in a jeep. They do only a small area of the reservation, because they don't want the tigers living in the biggest part to have too much contact with human. I was happy to see 2 tigers in less than a week. I heard of people who have seen none in 10 days. Of course there's other wildlife in the area, mostly food for the tigers, a perfect balance. I think it's a better way to preserve an endangered specious than the way the monks do, with all respect for them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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