Tug-of-war resumes over Thai temple tigers

Published May 31, 2016
A sedated tiger is stretchered before being moved from controversial Tiger Temple.—Reuters
A sedated tiger is stretchered before being moved from controversial Tiger Temple.—Reuters

KANCHANABURI: Thai officials armed with a court order on Monday resumed the removal of tigers from a controversial temple which attracts tourists as a petting zoo, but stands accused of selling off the big cats for slaughter.

On Monday afternoon one tiger was tranquilised and carried away on a stretcher, while another was lured into a cage to be relocated from the Wat Pha Luang Ta Bua temple.

Several others were due to be moved later to a nearby reserve, according to officials.

The temple in Kanchanaburi province has long proved a hit among visitors who flock there to visit the monks and be photographed — for a fee — next to the scores of exotic feline pets.

Animals rights groups accuse the temple of complicity in the black-market animal trade, making tens of thousands of dollars by selling off older cats for use in Chinese medicine in a hugely lucrative trade. The temple has always denied those allegations.

However last year one of the temple vets turned whistleblower, handing the authorities three microchips he said were inside a trio of tigers who had disappeared. It has never been fully established what happened to those tigers.

Published in Dawn, May 31st, 2016

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