Tiger

Sanctuary
Tiger sanctuary in Thailand
 Tiger Temple

• Tiger Temple, or Wat Pha Luang Ta Bua Yanasampanno, was a Theravada Buddhist temple in
the Sai Yok District of Thailand's Kanchanaburi Province in the west of the country. It was founded
in 1994 as a forest temple and sanctuary for wild animals, among them tigers, mostly
Indochinese tigers. A "commercial" temple, Tiger Temple charged an admission fee.

• The temple has long been accused by animal rights activists of mistreating the tigers for commercial
gain and even trafficking some of its animals though in 2005 it was cleared of allegations of animal
mistreatment in an investigation by wildlife officials and a raid by Thai soldiers. Charges were
pressed for unlicensed possession of 38 protected birds found on the temple grounds.
• In May 2016, the Thailand Wildlife Conservation Office (WCO) began capturing and relocating the
tigers, intending to close the facility. [Authorities counted 137 tigers on the premises, and the frozen
bodies of 40 cubs, some of them dead for more than five years.
The tigers

• In 1999, the temple received its first tiger cub, one that had been found by villagers. It
died soon after. Later, several tiger cubs were given to the temple. As of January 2016,
the number of tigers confined at the temple exceeded 150.
• The original eight tigers brought to the temple were rescues, and thus far DNA data is
incomplete and therefore unavailable to the public, as the pedigree of the tigers is not
entirely known. However, it is presumed that they are Indochinese tigers, except Mek,
a Bengal tiger. It is possible that some may be the newly discovered Malayan tigers,
as well as cross breeds or hybrids
 Issues, reports, and controversy

• Critics charge that the Tiger Temple is a criminal organization. An NGO,

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
(CITES) and laws of Thailand and Laos. It charged the temple with operating as a tiger breeding
facility without having a license as required under the Thai Wild Animals Reservation and
Protection Act of 1992.
• According to Edwin Wiek, founder of Wildlife Friends of Thailand, the temple's operations
violate CITES, an international treaty on wildlife to which Thailand is a signatory, which bans
commercial breeding of protected wild animals such as tigers.
 Issues, reports, and controversy

• Based on the Care for the Wild International report, a coalition of 39 conservation groups,
including the Humane Society International, the Association of Zoos and Aquariums,
World Animal Protection, and the World Wide Fund for Nature, sent a letter to the director
general of National Parks of Thailand under the name "The International Tiger
Coalition".The letter urged 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 programs, and to genetically test the tigers at the Tiger Temple to
determine their pedigree and value to tiger conservation programs. 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 purely by
profit.
• In December 2006, ABC News spent three days at the temple and did not see any
evidence of drugging or mistreating the animals. Both Thai and Western employees
who were interviewed claimed that the animals were well-treated. The abbot of the
monastery stated that the eventual goal was to breed tigers for release into the wild.
• In 2014, Care for the Wild International called for an end to "tiger selfies" in a global
campaign coinciding with International Tiger Day. The charity's CEO, Philip
Mansbridge, was quoted as saying: "I know people will immediately think we're
overreacting or just out to spoil people's fun. But the reality is, one quick pic for you
means a lifetime of suffering for that animal." The charity estimates that there are up to
60 incidents a year (of varying severity) of captive tigers mauling tourists or volunteers
at places like Tiger Temple.
• On 2 February 2015, an investigation of the temple commenced by forest officials. After
initially being rebuffed, they returned the following day with a warrant, police, and
soldiers. They seized protected wild birds and impounded the tigers on the premises.
The head of the Wildlife Crime Suspension office stated the park did not have the proper
permits for raising the birds. The tigers were impounded pending further investigation
into the tigers' documentation.
• In January and May 2016, two reports spanning nine years of investigations were
released by the Australian organisation Cee4life (Conservation and Environmental
Education 4 Life)[The first Cee4life report contains CCTV, recordings, and witness
statements regarding the disappearance of tigers at Tiger Temple.[The second report
contains evidence of tiger body part sales, gifting and international transport.
• National Geographic alleged that the Buddhist monks there are operating a for-profit
breeding, sales, and exploitation business with the tigers at the temple. The following
May, Thai authorities began seizing animals and attempting to shut down the facility.
Breeding for tigers for commercial use or otherwise is prohibited by the CITES
Convention, and tigers (being endangered) are regarded as state property in Thailand.