The monastery and popular tourist attraction, the focus of allegations of animal abuse and trafficking for 15 years, was raided this week by authorities who planned to remove all 137 tigers held at the temple, three hours northwest of Bangkok.
The tiger attraction gained worldwide attention as a place where visitors could pet, feed, bathe, and walk the cats around on leashes, snapping selfies along the way. It has been a gold mine to the monastery, which is formally known as Wat Pa Luangta Bua Yannasampanno, bringing in an estimated three million dollars a year.
But conservation organizations and former temple workers have long accused the temple’s monks of keeping the cats in jail-like enclosures, feeding them poorly, and physically abusing them. Critics also have accused the temple of trafficking endangered species in violation of Thai wildlife laws and an international treaty. The temple’s monks have rejected accusations regarding their care of the tigers, saying they have done nothing wrong. (…)
On Monday Thailand’s Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation began removing the tigers, an operation that required about 500 people. On Wednesday, after officials had tranquilized and removed six tigers that had been set loose in the temple’s kitchen facilities, they investigated a tip from a temple volunteer and made a stunning discovery.
Inside an industrial-size freezer they found the bodies of 40 frozen tiger cubs, all one to seven days old.
They’d been dead for no more than two days, said Adisorn Nuchdumrong, the wildlife department’s deputy director. (..)
But at the time the wildlife department lacked the facilities and know-how to care for the tigers, he said, so the monastery was allowed to keep them—with orders not to breed or make money from them. The monks ignored the directive, and the department turned a blind eye. The venue grew into a lucrative tourist hot spot, and by April 2015 the tiger population had soared to 147, according to the wildlife department.
Then, in December 2014, three adult male tigers vanished from the temple, animals that were microchipped and registered with the government. An ongoing, 16-month investigation by local police into the animals’ disappearance has not produced any charges.
Other pending cases against the temple include unlawful possession of sixAsian black bears and 38 rare hornbills and other birds—animals seized by federal wildlife officials in two separate raids in the spring of 2015. Two Asiatic golden jackals and two Malayan porcupines, seen at the temple during an inspection, disappeared before officials arrived to seize them and the birds.
