A few years ago we watched a documentary on television about a Buddhist monastery in Thailand where they looked after orphaned tigers.
And animals that for one reason or another could no longer survive in the wild.
The Abbot reported that the first tiger cub was taken to the monastery in 1999.
It sadly died, but after that several tiger cubs were taken to the temple because poachers killed their mothers.Or people were trying to get rid of cubs they had poached and were keeping as pets.
Before the tigers there were other animals there in fact the Buddhist temple was founded in 1994 as a forest temple and animal sanctuary.
We were fascinated by the story and as we saw pictures of the monks playing with the tigers and even outside visitors stroking them we were SO jealous. We never thought that one day we would be among those visitors.
Our son and daughter in law moved to Malaysia four years ago and during our first visit it was decided that we would go to Thailand for a few days.
We arranged for a visit to the temple from Bangkok. It included a quick visit to the floating market, which we really enjoyed.
It was quite a journey and about half an hour before we got there a local guide joined us. Later on we realized what a good move this had been.
I will just say here that the correct name of the temple is Wat Pha Luang Ta Bua and is quite near to the border with Myanmar. If you are organizing a trip be sure that you are being taken to the correct place as there are many temples in Thailand known as Tiger Temple.
It was so exciting to arrive.
It doesn’t look much as you would expect.
Tiger Temple is not meant as a tourist attraction, it really is a Buddhist temple and animal sanctuary but visitors are welcome because they bring in much needed revenue. It isn’t just feeding the tigers and other animals, there are vet’s fees too.
I don’t know quite how many tigers were there when we went but as of December 2009 there were almost 50.
The first thing we saw was the tigers being led to the quarry on leashes by the monks and the Abbot was leading the way. In the documentary the tigers played freely in the quarry but now they are kept on leashes when visitors are there.
After we watched this, our guide told us to follow her as there was a very young tiger cub. We were so privileged to be able to give the cub a cuddle before he had his nap. He was quite happy to nibble my hand (and I was more than happy to let him)
Then we walked back down into the quarry.
The visitor numbers are huge but everything is well organized, not in a sophisticated theme park kind of way but just for the safety of visitors and the well being of the tigers.
There were volunteers from all over the world who were happy to give up a few weeks or longer to help out without pay.
We queued up to have a photograph taken with a tiger and it was carefully supervised by experienced members of staff (we were also told not to wear certain bright colors as the tigers didn’t like them) We were photographed with a tiger’s head resting on our knee but then we had an even better offer.
As our guide was often there and knew most of the staff well she asked if we could go back in and have another photograph with us each individually leaning on the tiger’s belly. WOW I could hear the heartbeat, what an experience.
I know some sources are not happy with the set up at tiger temple and say the tigers are drugged.
I understand that it is not easy to drug any animal in the way suggested on a long-term basis, especially an animal as large a tiger.
Maybe I am naïve but I trust that true Buddhists would not treat animals cruelly as their belief is that they could have been human in a former life. Also there are recognized vets in attendance.
I have also heard that there is a project under way to provide a large enclosure where the tigers could spend a large part of their day roaming freely.
If you were thinking of visiting Tiger Temple you would have to do your own research and come to your own conclusion.
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