When
we were planning our Thailand tour itinerary, I came to know about Tiger
Temple, where tigers are domesticated by Buddhist monks. Immediately I included
in the list out of curiosity. Never ever thought my experience would be a ‘life
time’ experience. Now you start thinking…. If you think Tiger Temple is some
kind of spiritual sanctuary, you are wrong! If you think those monks have that
‘great power’ of taming a tiger, how thoughtless you are!! If you think tigers
are well fed and treated for injuries then released into the forests it is your
utter stupidity!!! If you think, by chance you are injured by the tiger your
insurance will cover you, I pity you!!!!... Now you stop thinking and read my
experience.
A
beaming Miss Pam, our tourist guide, described Tiger Temple as the greatest
place for tigers. My curiosity increased. I interrupted her by asking how is it
possible to tame a ferocious tiger. She didn’t like my question, obviously. She
squeezed her eyes, twisted her lips and whipped ‘Madam, you go there and see,
you can sit on its back, take its head on your lap, kiss the tiger too!’ A
strange sound came out of my throat, unknowingly. I swallowed rest of my
questions.
Tiger
temple is a popular (?) tourist destination in Thailand. Its success is based
on the claims that tigers are rescued from poachers, they live peacefully
amongst monks, who are actively engaged in rescue work. When we reached the
main gate, we saw the board displaying this information. After walking inside
for a long distance we reached a dusty, stony, rocky (artificially created)
area with lot of people. There was a ‘white’ guy announcing the charges for
each action (abuse!) with the tiger—photo keeping your hand on its back,
sitting on its back, taking its head on your lap, hugging, even teasing!!!!
Yes, you read right. There is a separate location where mostly foreigners enjoy
teasing tigers with sticks, loud music, whistle, loud noise!! The next 60
minutes were a torture for us to see the hapless tigers lying under the hot
sun, drowsy, not even knowing what is happening around.
Every
day between 1pm and 4pm tigers are on public display. Tourists can touch and
pose for photographs for a fee. During these sessions, tigers are exposed to 3
hours of direct sunlight of 40 degree and more. As soon as we enter our camera is taken away by the staff who take our photos and we are not allowed to take any pictures. I was shocked to see the staff drag
tigers to give appealing poses with tourists by pulling their tails, punching on
sensitive parts or pricking with sharp objects. I saw, to my horror, a staff
pulling the head of a tiger up and heavily dropping on the lap of a smiling
woman for a ‘special’ photograph!! The tiger did not make any noise of pain! He
did not know where he was and what was happening around. This was the story of
all tigers there. It is obvious that all tigers were heavily drugged. It is
impossible for a tiger to be so submissive without heavy sedatives. So what I
saw was not real, it is just ‘touristic’. The ‘real’ tiger will kill. I was
told by one of the staffers that there more than 100 tigers in captivity for
this purpose. They are confined to a small cage for more than 20 hours. They
are mainly fed a vegetarian food, which causes health problems to this carnivorous
animal.
Hundreds
of visitors, some of them children, are encouraged to go close to the tigers
for photo sessions. Staff is unprepared or ill-equipped to deal with potential emergencies.
Tiger Temple (ashamed to use the word temple) clearly renounces the
responsibility for injuries by asking visitors to sign a disclaimer at the
entrance. Don’t think these monks are good either. I heard, a few men are ‘made’
monks and they roam around when there are visitors. I saw a couple of monks in
one of the remote areas smoking and holding beer bottles.
Be
aware and wake up to the realities. Your visit to Tiger Temple will cause more
harm than good to tigers. It is horrible and unethical to use photogenic tigers
as photo props. Now you again start thinking………..
