Tigers at Thailand’s famed Tiger Temple live in cramped concrete enclosures, far removed from their habitat in the wild. A shocking new investigation links the monastery, which houses 147 tigers, to the black market tiger trade.
The temple, officially known as Wat Pa Luangta Bua Yannasampanno, is a huge tourist attraction for visitors who pay big money for hands-on contact with the temple's captive tigers. Busloads of tourists come to pet and feed cubs, play with tigers, walk them on leashes, and take selfies with them.
The tiger tourism is estimated to generate three million dollars a year for the temple. Former workers accuse the temple of tiger abuse and exploitation, including selling or trading animals, beatings, malnourishment, poor veterinary care, and horrible housing in small concrete cages with little opportunity for exercise or time outdoors.
The investigation alleges that tigers are being illegally traded to across the border to a tiger farm in Laos, and are helping fuel the black market in exotic luxury products in China such as tiger-bone wine (brewed by steeping a tiger skeleton in rice wine) and tiger skins, which are used in home decorations among China’s elite.
Sign the petition now and urge the Thai authorities to protect tigers from being exploited in this tourist trap, and stop the illegal wildlife trade.
Tigers at Thailand’s famed Tiger Temple live in cramped concrete enclosures. A new report links the monastery, which houses 147 tigers, to the black market tiger trade.
The illegal wildlife trade is linked to the same transnational criminal networks that run gun, drug, and human-trafficking operations, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, which estimates that this global business generates $19 billion dollars a year.
Former workers and animal welfare advocates have alleged that the tigers have been abused and exploited: beaten, fed poorly, in need of veterinary care, and housed in small concrete cages with little opportunity for exercise or time outdoors.
A century ago, more than 100,000 of the majestic cats roamed across 30 Asian nations. Today, just 3,200 tigers hang on, precariously, in 11 countries. Please help protect these remaining wild animals and follow your wildife laws and international conventions and shut down the Tiger Temple.
