WHEN Beyonce posted a snap of herself petting
a tiger cub during a holiday in Thailand, she thought it would thrill
her fans – but instead it caused an outcry.
Animal rights
activists slammed the singer for promoting the country’s cruel animal
tourism — an industry that often profits from abuse.
Today The Sun can reveal that
mistreatment, poor conditions and foul diets are rife in one of
Thailand’s best-known “sanctuaries” — which operates as a law unto
itself.
We visited the Tiger Temple attraction in the country’s
western Kanchanaburi province, which conservation chiefs insisted should
close in April this year, after a raid by inspectors.
Officials
at Thailand’s National Parks, Wildlife And Plant Conservation Department
found evidence of illegal trafficking of endangered species and animal
mistreatment.
Beastly rituals ... The Sun's Jenny goes undercover at the temple to expose what happens
However, not only was
Tiger Temple still open last week, but with entry costing from £15 up to
£150 a head, and 255,000 visitors annually, it is raking in at least £3.8MILLION a year.
Before
visitors enter Tiger Temple they are handed a legal document to sign,
asking them to agree not to hold the temple responsible for any injuries
to themselves. Staff constantly remind guests to “be careful”, as the
tigers can get agitated.
As a guide hands out the papers, he says: “It’s in case you get eaten by the tiger or something — you have insurance, right?”
Tourists are taken to an outdoor “temple” where six large tigers lie, tied by 20in-long chains to concrete pillars.
A three-month-old cub called Thunder sits tethered by a lead so that tourists can bottle-feed it.
This
happens over and over until formula milk is spewing out of its mouth,
just so tourists can get the best picture for their holiday album.
Jenny feeds cub
The cub, which The
Sun saw being completely overwhelmed by the attention, began snapping at
visitors, screeching and trying to run away on its short lead.
One
tour guide said: “He’s very feisty, he keeps biting people. We need him
to calm down or he’ll be a problem when he gets bigger.”
As
well as washing the chained-up tigers, the morning’s schedule for
guests includes activities such as feeds and walking the animals on
leads.
During feeding, tourists are given a large tray of
foul-smelling boiled chicken. But the tigers — which eat red meat in the
wild — could not have been less interested in the food.
When they
failed to take the meat from tourists, staff forced it into their
mouths to try to get them to engage in what was clearly yet another
photo opportunity.
The monks who live at Tiger Temple claim to
look after the animals in their care, but The Sun witnessed them
publicly teasing and hitting the chained-up tigers for fun.
Fuss ... Beyonce, hubby Jay Z, daughter Blue and cub
Xposure
Throughout the day, if a tiger “steps out of line”, staff resort to violence to control it.
The
Thai staff members — hired from the local villages — have no training
in animal welfare and instead use brute force to keep the tigers in
check.
During one exercise, in which the big cats were finally let
off their chains in a cage full of tourists, The Sun witnessed staff
kicking and punching the beasts.
They also continually pull and push the tigers around to get them in place for tourist snaps.
There are 148 tigers at Tiger Temple but most tourists see only 20 of them.
Staff told us that the rest live out their lives in other cages where they can enjoy their “free time” in retirement.
But
we were never shown these animals or the conditions they live in. The
tigers that we did see were crammed into dark, dirty cages.
The
Temple’s monks say the so-called sanctuary was founded in 1994 after
they found two orphaned tiger cubs in the forest and took them under
their care.
They spin a convincing story of how the sanctuary was
developed for the tigers they keep — but it is one that ex-volunteer
Turner Barr saw through.
Torment ... a monk taunts a chained-up tiger
The 28-year-old American
travelled to Thailand in 2012 to work there, but just two months into a
six-month programme he left Tiger Temple after becoming appalled by the
staff’s treatment of the animals.
He told The Sun: “The definition
of conservation is that the money should go directly back into the
animal care, or into animals in the wild.
“With Tiger Temple it is neither of these. They feed them boiled chicken because it is cheap.
“The
temple needs the cubs to make the money, so they take them off their
mothers at two weeks old so they can get them used to being around
humans.
“Out in the wild they are with their mothers for two
years. Here they have tourists molesting them and feeding them all the
time, because that’s how they make the money.
“Some staff tease
them, pull their tails or tickle them with a stick, but to me the abuse
is them not having a proper diet or proper conditions.
“They are in small cages at night, on their own with no stimulation. They just lock them up.
“The
tigers are there to make money and what is shocking is that tourists
choose to turn a blind eye to any hints of abuse because they don’t want
to believe it.”
With the tigers suffering in such terrible conditions, staff cannot always keep them under control.
But with guests paying so much for a ticket, the Temple is unlikely to close while profits continue to roll in.
Charities
and campaigners against the attraction are calling for tourists to stop
visiting so Tiger Temple can be shut down for good and the animals
handed over to organisations which would care for them properly. Indeed,
it is only when they stop paying to take their selfies with the tigers
that these beautiful animals can finally go free.
Scarred for life
Isabelle with tiger
featureworld.co.uk
TWO years ago British student Isabelle Brennan was mauled by a tiger during a two-month Thai trip with her sister.
She had seen pictures of the Tiger Temple on Facebook but says nothing could have prepared her for the awful conditions there.
Isabelle, 21, recalls: “When we arrived I was shocked at how close we could get to the tigers.
“At one point they told us we were going to wash them.
Mauled ... Isabelle's bite
featureworld.co.uk
“When I was washing mine it knocked me over and went for the inside of my left leg.
“I
was screaming and so were other people. A member of staff tried to pull
at its collar and hit it. She got
injured too. Then my sister dragged
me away.”
Isabelle has been left scarred
for life and was not covered for treatment by her insurance company,
which said she had “willingly harmed herself”.
She says: “It is shocking that it’s still open, but if tourists still go then they won’t close.”
‘Shut it down’
“THE Tiger Temple is no animal sanctuary,” writes CHRIS DRAPER from the Born Free Foundation.
He says: “We’ve been concerned about the activities there for years.
“Despite
our efforts and those of our friends – which have resulted in various
exposes and even raids by the authorities – we are sad to see it remains
in operation.
“The premises is first and foremost a visitor
attraction, not an animal sanctuary, with no benefit to tiger
conservation and extremely questionable animal welfare standards.
“The management of the tigers is a million miles from adequately providing for their needs.
“We
have received reports of heavy-handed treatment, of animals spending
very long periods in chains and of tigers living in inappropriate
enclosures stressfully close to other tigers.
“It is also clear there is a significant risk to visitors.
“It seems only a matter of time before someone is seriously hurt.
“It
is high time these tigers were offered a more suitable environment with
appropriate care, away from the demands of visitors and animal
handlers.”
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