Like most people I would jump at the opportunity to see wild animals, especially in their natural environment. Unfortunately to see tigers in their natural environment was not an option for me and going to a tiger rehabilitation centre sounded like the second best option. It seemed like an exciting opportunity to interact with exotic animals, and why not if they are protecting the animals.
I went on a morning excursion to the Tiger Temple in Thailand in 2010, which is quite close to Bangkok. It is a booming enterprise that offers you the chance to pet, feed and take photos with tigers. This opportunity seemed amazing and just too good to be true … and sadly it is. During my visit I suspected everything might not be as advertised, and it was only afterwards as I read up about the Tiger Temple and that I became aware of what was actually going on there.
Before my trip I was told that conservation is a part of the program at Tiger Temple and that they are helping to encourage the re-population of tigers to the region.
As part of our temple tour we got to posewith a majestic tiger. the Temple’s monks encouraged us to touch the tigers as the monks assured us they were docile because they have been hand-reared.
Although they insist that they care for the tigers the truth is quite the opposite. Most of these tigers looked very sleepy and they were all chained up and not able to move around at all. There are rumours that the tigers are drugged, which makes them appear “sleepy” and “content.” The other rumours are that the tigers have been brutally beaten and abused to learn to fear their captors.
Here are some facts about this temple that I came across in an article.
1. Tiger cubs at the temple were taken from their mothers, they were not orphans as the monks told us. These cubs were then handed over to the tourist for bottle feeding and non stop molestation. And yes, I did stroke one of these cubs and had my picture taken with it. Something that I am now quite ashamed of doing.
2. Cubs are bottle-fed all day long!! As the temple made most of its money from everything cub related. They had a long morning program with up to four afternoon feedings which must have been hell for the cubs.
3. The Tigers were obviously not getting any exercise at Tiger Temple. These majestic creatures were either in tiny cages or chained down like prisoners to the ground, so that tourists could take photos with them. These things were not just done at certain times as the monks told us, this was a day long occurrence.
4. Even though these animals were raised by humans from birth, they are still instinctively wild. There will always be an inherent danger as they can be unpredictable animals. Every year a tiger mauled an unsuspecting tourist at the temple.
5. These tigers were on the equivalent of an American diet. It is awful to think that they were fed boiled chicken every day. Many were overweight and had underdeveloped muscles. Tiger Temple claimed they couldn’t give the tigers red meat because it was “too expensive.”
6. And lastly, the money tourists “donated” didn’t go to tiger conservation. Tiger Temple was a very shady Tiger Business. The money tourists gave went first and foremost into building their big Vatican-like Buddhist temple. Just because a place was run by a bunch of “monks” didn’t make it holy or reputable.
The Tiger Temple in Thailand was raided in 2015 by the government as allegations surfaced that the Buddhist monks were illegally breeding their tigers and trafficking them across international borders. Not exactly in the spirit of “conservation.” Tiger Temple was later forced to shut down and to hand over their 147 tigers to the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation.
Did you have the chance to visit Tiger Temple before 2015?
And if so, what are your thoughts on this place?
Janaline's world journey 
I was there (during a 3-Day River Cruise on RV River Kwai) before the Tiger Temple Sanctuary was shut down. I, along with other visitors, also had a walk with tigers.
I think there should be a ban on zoos with animals behind the cages.
However, recently I visited Jungle Safari Bangkok, where visitors are in a caged vehicle and wildlife roam free. These kinds of park system may be ok where animals breed in natural habitat and some of the animals on the list of extinction has a chance to re-populate.
Also, this teaches us the significance of our ecology that need to be protected as we have a chance to interact with the animals.
Blessings.
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Same happened to us, we went to the tiger temple, to learn later the story and feel sorry about it! The animals are definitely not treated right! Same with elephants in Thailand, I wrote about it on my blog as well: https://wildlife-reporter.com/2017/06/03/elephants-of-thailands-tourism-industry/ . Keep in touch, following your blog!
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Oh damn when I read the title I thought you mean the Tiger Temple in Krabi. I did not see any tigers there but only temples and monks…
I hate to see these animals being abused…
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We considered visiting in this trip, but I have to say I’m glad we didn’t! Such a sad story for these tigers 🐅 such beautiful creatures reduced to shells. Did you enjoy other parts of Thailand at least? 🇹🇭
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This is so sad, I’m glad the message is getting out! Well done for making the message so clear, it’s just not right
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Thank you. Yes, it is sad that so many places like these exist out there.
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I’ll be heading to that part of the world soon, definitely going to avoid this like the plague!
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Such a shame but thank you for sharing and raising awareness on this!
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Thank you!
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Thanks for sharing the story! But I have to say that I think you have to be quite oblivious to think that tiger held in captivity like that is a good idea…
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I was told it was a rehabilitation center, which are places that normally do more good than harm. As I said, it was only during and after my visit that I found out it was really a rehabilitation center.
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Oh, I didn’t quite get that from the story. It’s really disgusting how they trick you into thinking you’re spending your money on something good. May I ask how you found out it wasn’t really a rehab center?
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After my visit I read up a bit more about these places and came to doubt it. But in 2015 the temple was closed down as they were trafficking tigers, so that cemented it for me. It’s sad, as there are places that really try their best to do good for animals.
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i visited the Tiger Kingdom a couple of years back just out of Chiang Mai. I feel guilty because I hadn’t really thought it through. They market themselves as doing tiger ‘conservation’ and they claim their tigers arent drugged. But what Ive learnt and articles like this make me think that sure they must be. The facilities looked pretty decent, they have goals to breed in captivity as their are so few tigers in the wild in Thailand with the hope to repopulate one day. But it’s all a bit dubious, although the conditions seemed ok.
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This was the same case with me. I went and enjoyed it although everything was not all there. Reading about everything that goes on there has made me feel really guilty about it.
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Thanks for raising awareness on this. More people need to know and stop going. Only when demand for it stops will the monks stop too.
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That is the truth. Unfortunately like a lot of people I only found out about the bad side of the tiger temple after I had already visited it. I will not recommend it for anyone in the future though.
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What a disgrace! I’m so glad they’ve been shit down!
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I agree Resa. It is sad that there are so many places that advetise themselves as rehab places and end up not being. I am glad the government shut it down.
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I read about this in the papers and was absolutely appalled. The scale of it was the most shocking for me…it’s not just the fact that they kept the tigers drugged and chained and took cubs away from their mothers at birth, but the fact that they had in the temple all sorts of tiger ‘parts’, from cubs in formaldehyde to tiger skin which means they were clearly dealing in illegal wildlife trade.
The amount of money they were making makes me think that the only way they were able to get away with it for so long was by paying off officials to overlook what was happening.
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Wow Sarah, I didn’t know that they had different tiger parts in the temple. That is just super disgusting and shocking.
I agree. Lots of these places are kept open as they just bribe the officials.
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What beautiful animals….and such a sad story.
People would automatically think that because the place was run by monks, it would be a kind and loving atmosphere. Looks like greed got the best of the monks.
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It is quite sad that the monks were corrupted by money.
But I agree, these animals are majestic and being so close to one and getting to interact with them was amazing!
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