I have to preface this by assuring you that these photos are real. Even I look at them now and am amazed . . .
We are at the Tiger Temple about a 45" drive from Khanchanaburi. Officially, this is a tiger preserve started in the late 90's when a group of Buddhist monks received a couple of tigers as a donation. I'm not certain if the tigers were injured or their rescuers simply wanted to make sure the population of Bengal tigers wasn't wiped out. Estimates are that there are less than 2500 of them left in the wild, with a mere 50 of them in the mountains of Thailand.
Well, it was a huge success - there are now 144 Bengal tigers at the Tiger Temple. As youngsters, 18 are chosen to 'perform' - namely, let scores of visitors do what we did - pet them and take a photo with them. Actually, the volunteers lead you around, stop at 'unoccupied' tigers and take countless photos with your camera.
This guy was my absolute favorite - he was such a little slut kitty!!
Yes, they're all adolescent boy tigers, under age 4. Once they reach that age - adulthood in tiger terms - they are no longer suitable for this kind of 'work'. Female tigers don't 'do' the photo thing.
Visitors are cautioned to not wear certain colors (red, yellow, orange) and to remove their sunglasses before going into the photo compound.
Check out the size of those paws!!
Near the 'photo' compound, we get up close and personal with a cub. A volunteer is playing with him, walking him around, and letting him go to the end of his tether where all of us eagerly photograph him. Another very popular program is the 'bottle feed a baby tiger cub' - we don't do that, and there has been no small bit of controversy surrounding it. Critics say that the babies are taken from their mothers at two weeks of age and started on bottle formula so that they can become another income-generating attraction (that's an extra $25 over the admission price of $20).
Yes, we were this close to this cub!!
This is a huge compound (easily thousands of acres) and at any given time there are close to 20 volunteers who supplement the full-time work force which appears to number around 20 as well. Before we decided to visit, I did a lot of reading about the 'temple'. To say that it's controversial is an understatement. A lot of people decry what's being done here and go so far as to call this 'tiger prison'. They allege that the tigers are drugged, and the older ones who are no longer able to 'work' are not properly cared for.
How would I know a drugged tiger?? These 'photo' tigers have been handled from birth, they are totally used to humans, and they are nocturnal by nature. Seeing them all blissed out in the afternoon sun probably isn't unusual. They all looked well-fed (their diet is pre-cooked chicken - costs about $1K a day), and their coats looked healthy (their hair is very coarse).
The rest of the compound is given over to housing the remaining 126 adult tigers along with what one volunteer estimates are about 1500 other animals - everything from water buffalo to deer and wild pigs. No animals are turned away, and no animals are euthanized.
The end of the work day and the tigers go back to their cages. Yes, that's a volunteer leading one of the cats. Oh, almost forgot - they weigh about 450 lbs (the cats, not the volunteers).
There is one enclosure we almost miss - the hornbills. Now this is one weird bird - huge! Reminds me of vultures dressed up for a costume ball.
This is my musing postscript to this Buddhist tiger preserve (and Buddhism in general) . . . as we're leaving I see this stone tablet (maybe the Eight Precepts are like the Ten Commandments).
I found it all a bit weird.
What's with the high and large luxurious couches??
Tomorrow we're off to Ayuthaya to catch the sleeper train to Chiang Mai.
We are at the Tiger Temple about a 45" drive from Khanchanaburi. Officially, this is a tiger preserve started in the late 90's when a group of Buddhist monks received a couple of tigers as a donation. I'm not certain if the tigers were injured or their rescuers simply wanted to make sure the population of Bengal tigers wasn't wiped out. Estimates are that there are less than 2500 of them left in the wild, with a mere 50 of them in the mountains of Thailand.
Well, it was a huge success - there are now 144 Bengal tigers at the Tiger Temple. As youngsters, 18 are chosen to 'perform' - namely, let scores of visitors do what we did - pet them and take a photo with them. Actually, the volunteers lead you around, stop at 'unoccupied' tigers and take countless photos with your camera.
This guy was my absolute favorite - he was such a little slut kitty!!
Yes, they're all adolescent boy tigers, under age 4. Once they reach that age - adulthood in tiger terms - they are no longer suitable for this kind of 'work'. Female tigers don't 'do' the photo thing.
Visitors are cautioned to not wear certain colors (red, yellow, orange) and to remove their sunglasses before going into the photo compound.
Check out the size of those paws!!
Near the 'photo' compound, we get up close and personal with a cub. A volunteer is playing with him, walking him around, and letting him go to the end of his tether where all of us eagerly photograph him. Another very popular program is the 'bottle feed a baby tiger cub' - we don't do that, and there has been no small bit of controversy surrounding it. Critics say that the babies are taken from their mothers at two weeks of age and started on bottle formula so that they can become another income-generating attraction (that's an extra $25 over the admission price of $20).
Yes, we were this close to this cub!!
This is a huge compound (easily thousands of acres) and at any given time there are close to 20 volunteers who supplement the full-time work force which appears to number around 20 as well. Before we decided to visit, I did a lot of reading about the 'temple'. To say that it's controversial is an understatement. A lot of people decry what's being done here and go so far as to call this 'tiger prison'. They allege that the tigers are drugged, and the older ones who are no longer able to 'work' are not properly cared for.
How would I know a drugged tiger?? These 'photo' tigers have been handled from birth, they are totally used to humans, and they are nocturnal by nature. Seeing them all blissed out in the afternoon sun probably isn't unusual. They all looked well-fed (their diet is pre-cooked chicken - costs about $1K a day), and their coats looked healthy (their hair is very coarse).
The rest of the compound is given over to housing the remaining 126 adult tigers along with what one volunteer estimates are about 1500 other animals - everything from water buffalo to deer and wild pigs. No animals are turned away, and no animals are euthanized.
The end of the work day and the tigers go back to their cages. Yes, that's a volunteer leading one of the cats. Oh, almost forgot - they weigh about 450 lbs (the cats, not the volunteers).
There is one enclosure we almost miss - the hornbills. Now this is one weird bird - huge! Reminds me of vultures dressed up for a costume ball.
Our new friend, Jake, photographing a very interested hornbill. We met Jake on the bus out from Kanchanaburi and have enjoyed getting to know him. Big surprise, readers - he's from NY!!
This is my musing postscript to this Buddhist tiger preserve (and Buddhism in general) . . . as we're leaving I see this stone tablet (maybe the Eight Precepts are like the Ten Commandments).
I found it all a bit weird.
What's with the high and large luxurious couches??
Tomorrow we're off to Ayuthaya to catch the sleeper train to Chiang Mai.
