THAILAND - To make a long story short, there is speculation that some of these tigers are being sold to trophy hunters and the like.
While the rescue of the first five tigers is much welcome news, the fate of the remaining 142 is still unclear at the moment. The Bangkok Post reports that it’s possible that the authorities at the temple and Thai officials “had reached an agreement that 70 tigers could be removed while the remaining 77 should be kept at the temple for tourism purposes so the foundation can earn revenue to operate.”
Friday’s big cat rescue by Thai Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation comes just a week after the National Geographic magazine revealed that the temple, officially known as Wat Pa Luangta Bua Yannasampanno, has been involved in the illegal trade and speed-breeding of tigers since at least 2004. The temple — which is located in Kanchanaburi, about a three-hour drive from Bangkok — attracts thousands of tourists each and every year, who pay $200 or more each for hands-on contact with the tigers. The temple makes a killing of $3 million a year from this business.
The NatGeo investigation was based, in part, on information provided in a report by the Australian animal welfare group called Cee4Life. The report includes videotaped evidence from a whistleblower codenamed “Charlie” that three micro-chipped male tigers were trafficked from the temple in December 2014 with the full knowledge of the leader and founder of the temple, Abbot Phra Acham Phoosit (Chan) Kanthitharo. (Read EIJ’s article on this issue, which includes an interview with Cee4Life founder Sybelle Foxcroft, here.)
Though Cee4Life made it’s report public last Friday (January 22), it had handed its findings over to Thai authorities (and to NatGeo) back in December.
The Thai Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation has been trying to remove the tigers from the temple for many weeks, but the monastery’s socio-cultural standing and deep political influence seems to be proving a major roadblock in this regard. Board members at the temple have included in the past a Thai general and an admiral.
The temple also has major expansion plans. It is currently building a $170 million “World Buddhist Sanctuary” which will include a new temple building and a larger tiger enterprise — housing up to 500 tigers in the project’s initial phase. It has split itself up in to three separate entities — the monastery, a charitable foundation and a corporation that will handle a new tiger enterprise. Much to the concern of the wildlife community, the corporation has now applied for a zoo license to run a safari-style tiger sanctuary.
A Thai court will be hearing the case in February.
Learn more about the recent controversies surrounding these tigers here: