Tiger Temple Adventures

We are planning on going to the Tiger Temple in July. I have emailed tigertempleadventures.com twice to book the cub feeding/training experience but have only had a standard email back saying thanks for contacting them and they%26#39;ll confirm as soon as possible. The last time I tried was 2 weeks ago.

Is there anywhere else I can book and get confirmation as it%26#39;s all my 16 year old wants to do while in Thailand and he will be so disappointed if it%26#39;s not available the day we go.

Tiger Temple Adventures

Try

www.tourwithtong.com

I think Tong does this special tour. Have a look at tours on website or email her for info

cheers

Karin

Tiger Temple Adventures

Before confirming this adventure please consider the following.

It has become customary, in recent years, for zoos and safari parks to respond to the growing public interest in conservation by claiming that by keeping endangered animals such as tigers in captivity, they are ensuring the survival of the species.....such talk shows an astonishing ignorance of the free born tiger.

Please take a moment to look at the Care for the Wild International report on Tiger Temple, released just last June, 2008.

careforthewild.com/files/…2020-06-08.pdf

Here is what National Geographic has to say about it:

…nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/06/080620-…

A blog link with information: …blogspot.com/2008/06/thai-tiger-temple-con-…

Tiger Temple Abuse Videos:

Animal Cruelty: www.youtube.com/watch…

Moving with Force: www.youtube.com/watch…

Injured Tiger: www.youtube.com/watch…

Restrained for Photo-taking: www.youtube.com/watch…

Visitor Safety Risks: www.youtube.com/watch…

Aggressive Tigers: www.youtube.com/watch…

Enclosures: www.youtube.com/watch…

These animals are clearly abused and badly treated, they need a real reserve or a conservation where they can be properly treated and live a more natural life without the abuse. Animals that have been in the show biz and abused cannot be released to the wild with success, these tigers are ruined and the cubs are being ruined as well.

If the Tiger temple was concerned about keeping these tigers out of extinction they should not have a constant flow of human contact from multiple strangers. The cubs should be groomed to be released into the wild or a reserve of sorts where they can live a natural life and help re-establish population. The reason tiger Temple keeps them is for the cash, eventually older tigers will have to be replaced.

Based on the number of visitors, entrance fees and the price for having a picture taken with a tiger%26#39;s head on your lap - 1,000 baht (CND$35) - the CWI estimated that the temple earned about 45 million baht to 50 million baht per year. The estimates did not take donations into account.

Tiger Temple should have been able to build their project long ago.

Please reconsider supporting Tiger Temple in trade for supporting real wildlife conservation in Thailand.

I agree with the above post. The Tiger temple is highly controversial. Friends who have been there have reported that the animals were very listless and appeared to have been drugged.

Thank u snowpirate for telling us about this, we are going in September and i will have my 12 year old daughter with me and i will certainly by pass going to the tiger temple. Im sure we wouldnt have a good time there thinking of what the poor animals go through behind the scenes. Thanks but no thanks a big miss from us. Cheers

i visited the tiger tmple in april %26amp; was happy with the conditions %26amp; the animals , i spoke at length to a britsh student who had been a volunteering there for a few weeks %26amp; she was happy with the setup %26amp; gave us alot of information about how the tigers are kept %26amp; told us that vets from all over the world go to the temple to do placements with the tigers alongside the resident vet

make up your own mind but i really enjoyed the experience %26amp; we were encouraged to go in to see the tigers in the canyon as many times as we wanted

A pedofile would not admit to raping a child.

Why would you expect the temple to admit to it%26#39;s wrong doings.

We visited a few years ago. Worked it into a 3 day tour staying at resotel/jungle rafts. Requested this and had a wonderful afternoon, just the 2 of us, and a guide from the hotel who was a young man very well known at the temple complex.

I certainly did not think the animals appeared to be ill treated, or drugged. In fact, i was quite paranoid and absolutely scared to death when the tiger%26#39;s head was placed in my lap. On the other hand, the abbot was sitting down with me and was a very calming influence on both me and, presumably, the tiger!

If you want to go, then do so, and make up your own mind. If you don%26#39;t like the look of things, just leave. I think you%26#39;ll love it.

(NB- we also enjoyed elephant camp in lampang, which again, other posters say is a cruel and horrible environment for animals)

Snowpirate,

I think your comparison of the moral standards of Buddhist monks and their normally young and idealistic volunteers at the tiger temple with those of a child rapist is both offensive and ridiculous.

Re your question ';Why would you expect the temple to admit to it%26#39;s (sic) wrongdoings.';

Here%26#39;s why. The young volunteers are almost without exception animal lovers to the point of near fanaticism. Probably a bit like yourself - except obviously, given their time spent there, considerably better informed about the tiger temple.

That is why I would expect those volunteers to be quite outspoken in their criticism of the place if such criticism was warranted. Yet the only volunteer%26#39;s opinion that I have read (that of ';Jackthenomad'; on the Fodors forum) is quite supportive of the place.

I also can%26#39;t help observing that some of the criticism in the much quoted Care for the Wild report is, to put it mildly, rather difficult to believe. I refer as an example to the claims that mistreatment of the tigers includes ';squeezing their testicles.'; Really !!!! If you believe that then you%26#39;ll believe anything! The torturers must be a lot braver than me!! I suggest that anyone mistreating those tigers in that way would have a life expectancy measured in seconds rather than minutes

(bear in mind the tigers are lead daily by those same handlers on a virtual dog lead, where the handlers are readily available to the tigers).

Also, regarding many of the videos of dragging the tigers around - although I have witnessed that, I have also noticed that the tgers very quickly put a stop to any treatment that they don%26#39;t like. It%26#39;s sort of common sense really - 50 kg. Thai handlers are usually fairly careful about how they treat unrestrained 150 kg. plus tigers!

Regards,

Mike.

My husband and I are in Kanchanaburi now.

After discussing the Tiger Temple with an expat who has resided and worked here for over 10 years, he mentioned that a young boy (a tourist) was in fact injured by one of the tigers earlier this year, but great lengths were taken to cover this up in the press.

For the sake of the tigers%26#39; welfare and yours, I would refrain from visiting Tiger Temple.

I would add that when I was researching activities in Kanchanaburi on the www.kanchanaburi-info.com website, the section on the Tiger Temple clearly states that they do not recommend a visit to the Tiger Temple.

I think it says something when even a site designed to promote tourism and revenue for Kanchanaburi asks visitors to boycott the Tiger Temple.

Here is the link:

kanchanaburi-info.com/en/saiyok.html#tiger

BTW - the website was a great resource for other activities in the area however.