Thailand’s Tiger Temple to be Closed after Police Raid

nsnbc : Thailand’s world-famous Tiger Temple the Sai Yok District of Kanchanburi province will be closed down after police  and wildlife officials raided the facility on June 1. The facility was established in 1994 as a sanctuary but has since then developed into a major tourist attraction. Police, however, found evidence that supports allegations of a breeding program as the basis for illegal trade in animal parts and wildlife trafficking.  

Photo courtesy dmitrimarkine.com

Photo courtesy dmitrimarkine.com

The Wat Phra Luang Ta Bua temple, most commonly known by tourists as “The Tiger Temple” has become world-famous by allowing visitors, primarily tourists, to touch the animals and to take a “selfie” with a tiger.

The facility was established in 1994 as a forest temple that provided a sanctuary for wild animals. Caring for animals is a common practice among Theravada Buddhists, as in Thailand, and other Buddhist communities.

There is, especially in the country side, a great deal of ambiguity in this regard. Opportunistic catching and selling wildlife to traffickers for “medicinal” and other purposes is common in rural communities.

It is, however, also a common practice to bring wild animals in distress to the local forest temple where the animal can find refuge and where monks may care for it.

The popularity that the temple gained, and with it the prospect of large sums of money that can be made on tourism as well as on illegal activities may indeed have been to great a challenge for some of the monks.

The investigation into the temple’s activities may discover some skeletons that have been hidden in the closet. Tiger bones have a black-market value of approximately 450 U.S. dollar per kilogram while a tiger skin is worth thousands.

June 1. Thai Wildlife Official displays seized tiger cub carcasses and other seized items. Courtesy Thailand's Wildlife Authority and EPA.

June 1. Thai Wildlife Official displays seized tiger cub carcasses. Courtesy Thailand’s Wildlife and Conservation Office and EPA.

When police raided the forest temple facilities they discovered some 40 tiger cub carcasses in freezers while one of the monks was caught trying to flee the premises in a car, loaded with tiger skins and fangs. Police charged 22 persons including three of the monks for wildlife trafficking.

Police and wildlife authorities are also investigating allegations according to which the facility has operated as a front for illegal trade in tiger parts and other animals parts as well as wildlife trafficking. The administrators deny these allegations.

The facility has also been accused of using, at times brutal “circus training methods” to break the tigers while promoting the “show” under the motto of love and compassion.

The facility has previously been accused of drugging tigers that are used for “selfies”, while keeping animals that have not been trained in cramped and unsanitary conditions. The facility has also received a great deal of criticism for its breeding program. The administrators argued that the breeding program serves conservation purposes.

Many experts, however, stressed that the Tiger Temple is crossbreeding various species of tigers which makes them unfit for reintroduction into the wild (rewilding) or for conservation of the individual species..

Tigers are big cats and Thailand’s authorities are facing a big problem with relocating about 100 of them. Irregularities at the facility have not been uncommon and the decision to relocate the tigers was made before the raid on June 1. In May the Thailand Wildlife Conservation Office began capturing and relocating the tigers. There were at that time 137 tigers at the facility.

It should be noted that the removal of the tigers does not mean that the entire facility will be closed down. The facility has a large number of animals including other big cats on display. Ultimately, visitors will probably be able to enjoy “a better ride”, knowing that Thailand’s authorities have taken the initiative to stop unethical or illegal practices.

CH/L – nsnbc 05.06.2016

Source Article from http://nsnbc.me/2016/06/05/thailands-tiger-temple-to-be-closed-after-police-raid/

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