World Tiger Day: Tiger Temple may have closed down but Thailand's tiger industry refuses to change its stripes
Earlier this year, Netflix's Joe Exotic documentary series 'Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness' created waves as the self-proclaimed Tiger King's big cat breeding was explored. The sad thing, however, was that the documentary series failed to expand on how Joe Exotic (real name Joseph Allen Maldonado-Passage) abused animals at the GW Zoo. Unfortunately, when it comes to tiger breeding and animal abuse, Joe Exotic is not the only one who is guilty. In 2016, Thailand's Wat Pha Luang Ta Bua Temple -- also known as the Tiger Temple -- created waves when the country's government conducted a raid, uncovering the most shocking images.
It is tempting to get the opportunity to pose and play with a tiger or its cubs, they are some of the most dangerous predators in the wild and even Beyonce and Jay-Z posed with tigers on a trip to Thailand. However, behind the scenes, it is a murky picture -- tigers in captivity are often inbred, resulting in poor health of the cubs, and cubs are taken away from their mothers at just a few weeks old so that the mothers can breed again. The situation gets even murkier in some parts of the world, where tiger parts are traded illegally.
What is the Tiger Temple?
Situated a few hours from Thailand's capital city, Bangkok, the Wat Pha Luang Ta Bua Yanasampanno was a commercial temple that was run by Buddhist monks. Founded in 1992, the temple received its first cub in 1999. The temple would charge visitors an admission fee and on additional payment, visitors would get to pet and feed tiger cubs, see tigers perform tricks and play with them. With this alone, the temple earned millions of dollars each year, but behind the facade of "peaceful coexistence", a far more dangerous and predatory environment existed.
What was really going on?
A 2015 report by the NGO Cee4Life contained a detailed investigation of the events that led up to the disappearance of three male tigers in December 2014, which were thought to have been sold into the illegal wildlife trade. The disappearance was spotted as the three tigers were microchipped and it is believed that those tigers were sold by accident. Secretly taped recordings suggested that the temple's abbot had been involved. Further investigations revealed that there were tigers that were not microchipped in the temple's premises.
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In 2016, the Thai government raided the temple -- dozens of dead tiger cubs and hundreds of other tiger parts were discovered during the police raid. As many as 40 tiger cubs were found dead in a freezer -- with authorities estimating they were just a day or two old at the time of death -- and nearly 20 tiger cubs were found preserved in jars of formaldehyde. Some of the animals being preserved inside the temple had reportedly been dead for more than five years. Government authorities rescued 147 tigers that appeared to be underfed. Authorities also found a laboratory, suggesting that the monks were using tiger parts to make wines and medicines. Genetic analysis of the tigers found that there were cubs with no parents present at the zoo -- either signifying that the parent tigers were killed or that the cubs were trafficked into the temple.
Illegal tiger parts trade
In parts of East and Southeast Asia, the illegal trade of tiger parts flourishes for many reasons. Tiger pelts and tiger wine (where tiger bones are soaked in rice wine) are some of the most sought after items. Traditional Chinese medicine also uses tiger bones, though it has been forbidden since 1993. Wildlife trade monitoring network Traffic estimated that parts of around 1,600 tigers were seized by Asian authorities between 2000 and 2014. To put this in context, less than 4,000 tigers exist in the wild across the world.
A fully grown tiger's pelt can sell for tens of thousands of dollars in China. According to the Environmental Investigation Agency, wealthy Chinese are buying pelts for rugs and wall hangings and drinking tiger wine at hundreds of dollars a bottle -- tiger wine is even used to signify wealth and power in society. Tiger bones are worth almost their weight in gold and a bowl of tiger penis soup – said to boost virility – sells for more than $300.
About 30 percent of illegal tiger parts seized in Asia are suspected to have come from tiger farms. There are more than 7,000 tigers being bred in captivity in 240 farms in Southeast Asia. China has 5,000 captive tigers, Thailand 1,450, Vietnam 180, and Laos around 400.
What happened to the rescued tigers?
In September 2019, Thailand authorities revealed that more than half of the rescued tigers had died. According to authorities, the deaths occurred because of Canine Distemper Virus (CDV)-caused illness, a serious condition that generally affects dogs but which has also been seen in big cats. Laryngeal paralysis, a respiratory disease, has also been cited as a reason. The authorities said that the big cats were inbred at the temple, thus leading to conditions that resulted in their deaths.
However, activists believe that the deaths could have been averted had Thai wildlife authorities taken preventive measures, such as keeping a safe distance between the animals’ cages to avoid the spread of diseases. The temple's caretaker, Athithat Srimanee, disputed the authorities' claims for the tigers' deaths while speaking with Reuters. "When they raided the temple three years ago, they did not say anything about infection, so this is just a blame game," he said, accusing the authorities of locking up the animals in small cages.
Thailand's tiger problem
Unfortunately, the Tiger Temple was only a small part of the country's problem -- it was shut down because it was unlicensed, however, many more tiger farms continue to operate in Thailand today because they are licensed. A September 2019 New York Times report stated that at least 20 zoos around the country still "offer visitors the chance to feed a cub, have a photo taken with a tiger, or enter an enclosure."
In Thailand's Sriracha Tiger Zoo, there are more than 300 tigers in captivity. In the zoo, piglets and tiger cubs are kept together in an echo of the Tiger Temple's "peaceful coexistence" philosophy. The Times also mentions the presence of an exhibit called “Shoot ʻn Feed,” where tourists fire pellet guns at targets above a tiger pen. Direct hits release food to waiting tigers, who fight over the scraps.
A July 2019 report by organization For Tigers found that 74 percent of the facilities were kept in inadequate conditions. Nearly 60 percent of the zoos had no fresh water for the tigers, and fewer than 20 percent provided spacious enclosures where the animals could move around without restraint or interference from humans. In some zoos, tigers have been trained by handlers to fear being hit with a stick. Many have had their claws removed.