Ever wondered what it would be like to have petting zoos for wild animals? Well, Thailand was quick to make that idea into a reality when they thought about tiger temples. Though virtuously named, Tiger temples were founded as wildlife sanctuaries and soon converted into money-making schemes. Along with this dubious mindset, came the unethical treatment of the tigers they swore to protect. It is truly disgusting, that culturally significant animals, such as tigers and elephants, have to undergo such a faith.
Thailand has a number of these “temples”, some more known than others— Tiger Kingdom Chiang Mai, Tiger Kingdom Phuket, Sriracha Tiger Zoo and the infamous Wat Pha Luang Ta Bua Yanasampanno. Wat Pha Luang Ta Bua Yanasampanno considered synonymous with the words ”tiger temple”, has had a long history of fights with wildlife authorities around the globe. What began as a violation of CITES due to the commercial breeding of tigers, escalated to allegations of trafficking, killing and freezing dead bodies of tiger cubs.
The Early History of Tiger Temples
The Wat Pha Luang Ta Bua Yanasampanno monastery in Kanchanaburi was converted to a tiger temple in 1999 when monks decided to take care of an abandoned tiger cub at their door. As the cub started gaining attention from the public, the monks saw it as an opportunity to start a business and soon 8 cubs arrived at their sanctuary. The early 2000s saw the beginning of tourism and consequently the commercialised breeding of tigers. The 300THB paid per person was said to go towards the reintroduction of tigers into forests. In 2001, government officials were notified about the illegal keeping of endangered species at the temple. However, the temple was deemed to be harmless and thus was allowed to keep the tigers.
As the temple grew to hold 18 tigers, concerns for the wildlife inside the sanctuary started arising but none took hold until the 2005-2008 investigations were led by the UK group- Care for the Wild International (CWI) group. With the help of temple volunteers, CWI published a report that stated that tiger cubs were purchased from a Laotian farm and that the pre-existing tigers in the temple were replaced with those bred from these Tiger Farms.
Tiger farms were known to transport tiger bones and penises to the black market for their use in fake traditional Chinese medicine. Like with the rest of the dark goings in the temple, the volunteers were unaware that the trading was illegal as the monks claimed that the temple had permits to trade outside borders. Assuming the piety of the monks to be true, the volunteers continued to believe that what they were doing contributed to the conservation instead of endangering them.
Where did the tigers vanish?
During this period, about 6-7 tigers disappeared, they were made to stay in cages for most of the day and abused by rocks to keep them docile. there were also rumours of the tigers being drugged so that they seemed calm to the public. However, these reports were vehemently denounced by the monks and a 2008 ABC news report. Soon enough the allegations dwindled as a five-hectare enclosure costing 90 million THB known as the Tiger Island was completed inside the temple in 2011, earning praises from the DNP and the public for having open grounds for the tigers to roam in.
Three years later, the tiger temple sought unwanted attention in the headlines with the disappearance of 3 adult male tigers- Dao Nua, Facram and Happy. This was confirmed by Somchai Visasmongkolchai, a former vet in the temple, who handed over the microchips that were cut out of the three tigers. In 2015, the CWI reports were reaffirmed by the Australian NGO CEE4Life’s “Tiger Temple Report”. The founder of the NGO had become passionate about the project after she witnessed two female cubs torn apart from their mother in the temple and replaced with male cubs bearing the same name during the night.
This was to ensure speed-breeding by the female. CEE4Life’s investigation put the security footage and an audiotape that revealed a conversation about the three tigers, into the light. The temple staff who had questions about the tigers were threatened by the monks to keep the whole operation under wraps. The temple refused to unlock its doors despite the police raids that were initiated.
Raids on Tiger Temples Revealed extensive Illegal Wildlife Trade
Since April 2015, Thailand’s Department of National Parks has been attempting to seize 147 tigers from the monastery, insisting that money cannot be made from state property (tigers). It’s not easy accusing a temple, especially one in a religious country where the utmost respect is given to abbots. Knowing this, the abbot had stalled the seizing for months, negotiating zoo permits and demanding to check whether the government-sanctioned breeding facilities in Ratchaburi were fit to hold the tigers.
In 2016, the police were determined to remove all the tigers and shut down the temple. The raids revealed that 40dead newborn cubs were kept in a freezer and 20 in jars of formaldehyde for over five years. Though any trafficking news was kept in secrecy, the monks did not have the same qualms about any reports that suggested that they had frozen their cubs.
They claimed that this was not news to the DNP and that the frozen cubs were merely more proof that they were not involved in the illegal trade of dead animals. The raids also unfolded the presence of hacksaws, two adult tiger pelts, 1500 amulets of tiger skin and tiger fang trinkets which were given as a reward for donating to the temple. Despite all the efforts to rescue tigers from the temple, in three years, 86 of the seized tigers succumbed to the Canine Distemper Virus, due to their genetically decreased immunity formed due to the captive inbreeding they were subjected to.
Written by: Fatima Safeer
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