Thailand’s renowned Sriracha Tiger Zoo is to close after 24 years in operation

[webfact]

 

After 24 years, one of Thailand’s famous tourist attractions, for both Thais and foreigners, is to close for the foreseeable future. Sriracha Tiger Zoo’s management has announced the closure of the park, citing the COVID-19 pandemic.

 

On the zoo’s webpage, the management said that, since the outbreak of the first wave of the pandemic early last year, it has struggled and tried all possible means to earn revenue, including selling street food and offering promotional free entry to visitors, to keep the business afloat for the sake of its staff and the animals in the zoo.

 

The pandemic has continued to return in wave after wave. In April this year “thunder struck” (the onset of the third wave) and the management says that it can no longer carry on with the business, as there are no foreign tourists at all.

 

Full story: https://www.thaipbsworld.com/thailands-renowned-sriracha-tiger-zoo-is-to-close-after-24-years-in-operation/

 

-- © Copyright Thai PBS 2021-07-14

 

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[steven100]

let the tigers loose in Pattaya, at least they'll be able to scrounge around for food. 

Take the elephants to the Jungle. 

[worgeordie]

Hopefully good news for the animals......as long as

they are not turned into medicines

regards Worgeordie

 

[smedly]

I was there last year

 

it's a dump and I vowed never to go back

 

This is what happens to a place when you have corruption at the gate - money goes into pockets and the place just goes to ##

[redwood1]

28 minutes ago, smedly said:

I was there last year

 

it's a dump and I vowed never to go back

 

This is what happens to a place when you have corruption at the gate - money goes into pockets and the place just goes to ##

I have been there...,Ok it's not Disneyland....But come on....I would not call it a dump....It was no better or worse than a lot of other places like the Alligator farm.. 

[Chris.B]

As I recall, massive overcharging for foreigners.

 

[pacovl46]

What’s the difference of keeping the animals where they are right now right and moving them to land owned by the company?! If they keep them they will need to be fed and that causes the biggest bills! Plus the move will cost money, too! The only explanation would be that they pay rent for the zoo area, but which zoo doesn’t own the land the zoo is own?

 

Either way, I have been there in 2006 and the tigers seemed to be healthy, although overcrowded. I loved the Orang-Utan, too. He was just like a human being the way he sat there and just looked around 

[RichardColeman]

3 hours ago, Chris.B said:

As I recall, massive overcharging for foreigners.

 

That's why you stand aside and always let your Thai wife buy the tickets at all Thai entertainment venues !

[Cake Monster]

What good news !

Now rehome the Animals in appropriate conditions and Environments.

[hotchilli]

5 hours ago, redwood1 said:

I have been there...,Ok it's not Disneyland....But come on....I would not call it a dump....It was no better or worse than a lot of other places like the Alligator farm.. 

Which should also be closed.

[Chris.B]

1 hour ago, RichardColeman said:

That's why you stand aside and always let your Thai wife buy the tickets at all Thai entertainment venues !

Wow, I never thought of that!!

 

Talk about stating the obvious!

 

[Benmart]

Close it for good, along with the other pathetic zoos and cages of animals that belong in nature, wherever they are located.

[bangon04]

3 hours ago, Cake Monster said:

What good news !

Now rehome the Animals in appropriate conditions and Environments.

"since the outbreak of the first wave of the pandemic early last year, it has struggled and tried all possible means to earn revenue"

 

so now the tigers will donate their genitals to Chinese "science" of alternative medicine - this will go some way to reducing the debts...

[Golden Triangle]

3 hours ago, Benmart said:

Close it for good, along with the other pathetic zoos and cages of animals that belong in nature, wherever they are located.

Very sorry sir, I will have to disagree with part of your statement, yes, Sriracha & a lot of other zoos in Thailand need closing, all they have ever done is generate huge amounts of money for the greedy owners, with no thought at all for the wellbeing of the animals, look at that awful place out by Kanchanaburi, run by monks no less, barstewards couldn't give a monkeys about animal welfare.

 

Colchester zoo in Essex UK wins awards for its pioneering work in saving endangered species from extinction, the two concepts are poles apart.

[impulse]

7 hours ago, RichardColeman said:

That's why you stand aside and always let your Thai wife buy the tickets at all Thai entertainment venues !

I happily pay the farang price.  Cheaper than a Thai wife...

 

[Meat Pie 47]

1 hour ago, Golden Triangle said:

Very sorry sir, I will have to disagree with part of your statement, yes, Sriracha & a lot of other zoos in Thailand need closing, all they have ever done is generate huge amounts of money for the greedy owners, with no thought at all for the wellbeing of the animals, look at that awful place out by Kanchanaburi, run by monks no less, barstewards couldn't give a monkeys about animal welfare.

 

Colchester zoo in Essex UK wins awards for its pioneering work in saving endangered species from extinction, the two concepts are poles apart.

Absolutely correct, many zoos in the west breed endangered species and if possible released back in to the wild.

[impulse]

36 minutes ago, Meat Pie 47 said:

Absolutely correct, many zoos in the west breed endangered species and if possible released back in to the wild.

And other zoos don't do anything as meaningful.  They just allow people to see the animals up close and personal.  And some of those people become advocates of preserving the animals as a result of their zoo experience.

 

[kwilco]

13 hours ago, worgeordie said:

Hopefully good news for the animals......as long as

they are not turned into medicines

regards Worgeordie

 

Never good news for the animals.

THEY were kept in substandard conditions and are now being moved to temporary settlements...it cant be good.

The fact that a place like SRTZ was allowed to exist all, let alone grow so big is a terrible indictment of Thailand's  wildlife and conservation  laws.

[kwilco]

8 hours ago, pacovl46 said:

What’s the difference of keeping the animals where they are right now right and moving them to land owned by the company?! If they keep them they will need to be fed and that causes the biggest bills! Plus the move will cost money, too! The only explanation would be that they pay rent for the zoo area, but which zoo doesn’t own the land the zoo is own?

 

Either way, I have been there in 2006 and the tigers seemed to be healthy, although overcrowded. I loved the Orang-Utan, too. He was just like a human being the way he sat there and just looked around 

It seems the "owner" and board have differing  views. Maybe one owns the menagerie and the board owns the zoo. Presumably ripe for residential development.

The zoo was a travesty from the ground up. The owner, if in Europe would be prosecuted, fined or even imprisoned..

[jacko45k]

9 hours ago, Golden Triangle said:

Colchester zoo in Essex UK wins awards for its pioneering work in saving endangered species from extinction, the two concepts are poles apart.

I believe the elephant enclosure at say Chester Zoo in the UK is 5900 m². There is a possibility soon elephants in zoos will be banned as they say they need vast areas to live well.  In Thailand they spend a lot of their time on a 2 ft chain or giving rides to tourists with a spike being jabbed in them. The tigers are made to work for the food and in a way that the visitors pay for it too..... I found the place saddening.

[kwilco]

16 hours ago, Golden Triangle said:

Very sorry sir, I will have to disagree with part of your statement, yes, Sriracha & a lot of other zoos in Thailand need closing, all they have ever done is generate huge amounts of money for the greedy owners, with no thought at all for the wellbeing of the animals, look at that awful place out by Kanchanaburi, run by monks no less, barstewards couldn't give a monkeys about animal welfare.

 

Colchester zoo in Essex UK wins awards for its pioneering work in saving endangered species from extinction, the two concepts are poles apart.

Some "zoos" may have a role to play as a last resort. But "saving animals from extinction is something that shouldn't be needed  . We should be concentrating on entire ecosystems.

 

Keeping an animal or species alive in a cage is not really what it's all about. It is the entire ecosystem that we should be concerned with . A healthy population of tigers in the wild means the whole ecosystem of flora and fauna is working, not just one animal in a cage.

 

There are no zoos in Thailand that help this.. in fact the Tiger Zoo actually damages this as it gives the impression that there are lots of tigers about. . . They aren't even the right sub-species.

[Golden Triangle]

20 minutes ago, kwilco said:

Some "zoos" may have a role to play as a last resort. But "saving animals from extinction is something that shouldn't be needed  . We should be concentrating on entire ecosystems.

 

Keeping an animal or species alive in a cage is not really what it's all about. It is the entire ecosystem that we should be concerned with . A healthy population of tigers in the wild means the whole ecosystem of flora and fauna is working, not just one animal in a cage.

 

There are no zoos in Thailand that help this.. in fact the Tiger Zoo actually damages this as it gives the impression that there are lots of tigers about. . . They aren't even the right sub-species.

Unfortunately the poachers of Elephants, Rhino's, Tigers, Lions and dozens of other species on land or sea don't give a toss about ecosystems, no matter how good the ecosystem is and how diverse the flora & fauna the poachers will always follow, that's one reason we need good zoos, stopping the poaching should be our main goal.

[bangon04]

5 hours ago, Golden Triangle said:

Unfortunately the poachers of Elephants, Rhino's, Tigers, Lions and dozens of other species on land or sea don't give a toss about ecosystems, no matter how good the ecosystem is and how diverse the flora & fauna the poachers will always follow, that's one reason we need good zoos, stopping the poaching should be our main goal.

The poachers will not stop - there are plenty of "customers" who will pay a lot of money for animal parts. The biggest market - we all know where this is - is also the most superstitious and backward thinking....

[kwilco]

45 minutes ago, bangon04 said:

The poachers will not stop - there are plenty of "customers" who will pay a lot of money for animal parts. The biggest market - we all know where this is - is also the most superstitious and backward thinking....

Just saying that poaching will continue, is not an option.

Without the animals on the wild we lose our ecosystems. . We  need these systems for a healthy planet...ckean water and air.

Apart from creating a false sense of security as you demi state, the zoos in many countries are used to supply and generate a market for animal parts used in TCM.

This in turn creates a stronger market for poached animals. Firstly because the profit margin is potentially higher and secondly *genuine" wild animals fetch a premiym price.

So poaching has to be stopped as much as possible. It IS possible and has had success in some areas already.

What is needed is for the TCM market to be ended and this will almost totally end demand.

Poaching is not the only problem though. Encroach and mismanagement of national parks in Thailand is a massive problem. For instance, the building of dams etc is one of the main threats to the tiger population

 

[bangon04]

3 minutes ago, kwilco said:

Just saying that poaching will continue, is not an option.

Without the animals on the wild we lose our ecosystems. . We  need these systems for a healthy planet...ckean water and air.

Apart from creating a false sense of security as you demi state, the zoos in many countries are used to supply and generate a market for animal parts used in TCM.

This in turn creates a stronger market for poached animals. Firstly because the profit margin is potentially higher and secondly *genuine" wild animals fetch a premiym price.

So poaching has to be stopped as much as possible. It IS possible and has had success in some areas already.

What is needed is for the TCM market to be ended and this will almost totally end demand.

Poaching is not the only problem though. Encroach and mismanagement of national parks in Thailand is a massive problem. For instance, the building of dams etc is one of the main threats to the tiger population

 

maybe.... just maybe the CCP could use its vast propaganda machine to tell its citizens that it is a stupid superstition to believe that eating rhino horn gives men bigger stronger *****. and it make China look backward in the eyes of the modern world....   But I won't hold my breath....

[kwilco]

On 7/15/2021 at 2:16 PM, bangon04 said:

maybe.... just maybe the CCP could use its vast propaganda machine to tell its citizens that it is a stupid superstition to believe that eating rhino horn gives men bigger stronger *****. and it make China look backward in the eyes of the modern world....   But I won't hold my breath....

They already are. Since Covid has been connected to wild animal consumption there is the beginning of a reaction to this and TCM.

China has a massive nouveau riche who in many ways are still culturally back in the 19th C. However it doesn't take long to change things if the will is there, especially in a restrictive society like China.

 

I take it from your posts that you think all these endangered animals will inevitably become extinct?

 

I dont, I believe there are practical things we, our countries and Thailand can do.

We have CITES for a start. This has been shown on occasions to have teeth....Thailand came under threat about 7 years ago and slowly began to I troduce legislation required by the treaty.

On a personal level we can stop supporting the wildlife attractions in Thailand and tell our friends Thai and Farang about exploitation etc.

Basically a sea change is occurring. I've noticed this in the Thai companies and universities I've worked in.

Thailand has been a hub for the wildlife trade and has virtually no animal protection laws....every time something like the Sri Racha zoo raises its ugly head  the international coverage proves to be another nail in the coffin of their acquiescence.

 

Edited July 16, 2021 by kwilco

[Leaver]

 

I hope the zoo keepers don't eat the bats.