Emaciated, Twenty-Year-Old Tiger Among 15 Big Cats Saved from Tiger Farm in Thailand after Historic Rescue Mission

[webfact]

Twelve tigers and three leopards who have spent their lives in captivity have been rescued from a tiger farm in Thailand.

The undisclosed captive tiger facility in northern Thailand was visited by government officials on 16th December following legal action over alleged illegal wildlife trading. Veterinary teams and wildlife experts from Wildlife Friends Foundation Thailand (WFFT) were on hand to rescue the seized animals, in the first part of the largest tiger rescue operation by an NGO in Thailand’s history. It is expected that 35 tigers in total will eventually be rescued from the farm.

 

The initial rescue was difficult and intense, with the first fifteen animals chosen on the basis of who required the most urgent medical care. Twelve elderly tigers and three ill leopards were selected, before being sedated, given initial health checks, and transported into transport cages that were loaded onto wildlife ambulances.

 

Emaciated, elderly tiger Salamas was among the first to be rescued. While most other tigers were sedated so that they could safely be moved into transport cages, Salamas’s worrying condition meant that the veterinary team advised against this due to the risk of her not waking up from the sedation.

 

By Online Reporter 

Image: WFFT/Amy Jones

 

Full story: HUA HIN TODAY 2023-12-19

 

- Cigna offers a range of visa-compliant plans that meet the minimum requirement of medical treatment, including COVID-19, up to THB 3m. For more information on all expat health insurance plans click here.

 

Get our Daily Newsletter - Click HERE to subscribe

[KhunLA]

Humans have got to be the most disgusting species.  

 

How many years has this 'undisclosed facility' been operation out in the open, with full knowledge of officials?

[geisha]

I am absolutely horrified ! What these low life criminals have done to these beautiful animals is unforgivable!  I’m not partially shocked by the lack of regulations and regular checks from government officials. Rather typical for here. All people concerned with this should be named and shamed ! I hope it makes world news !  I suppose there are many more of these “torture” cages around Thailand and elsewhere in Asia.

 

[stoner]

this really sucks. i imagine this will cause a shortage in tigers available to be drugged up for selfies. 

 

[hotchilli]

2 hours ago, webfact said:

Twelve tigers and three leopards who have spent their lives in captivity have been rescued from a tiger farm in Thailand.

Some excellent new at last...

[hotchilli]

3 hours ago, webfact said:

Emaciated, elderly tiger Salamas was among the first to be rescued. While most other tigers were sedated so that they could safely be moved into transport cages, Salamas’s worrying condition meant that the veterinary team advised against this due to the risk of her not waking up from the sedation

Should sedate the farm owners and operators.

[jacko45k]

35 minutes ago, KhunLA said:

Humans have got to be the most disgusting species.  

 

How many years has this 'undisclosed facility' been operation out in the open, with full knowledge of officials?

Did you ever read the tale of the lonely gorilla in Bangkok. Very upsetting. 

[bunnydrops]

I wonder how they fed that many tigers, dogs? cats? ex mob members?

[kwilco]

Good to see WFFT doing their stuff.

 

The sad part is that this situation has been going on in Thailand for decades and des[pite the reporting in the media, the authorities seem reluctant to do anything to stop it.

 

Remember as a tourist you are su[porting this kind of thing every time you visit a wildlife attraction.

[Bim Smith]

How many years has a blind eye been turned to this. I find it hard to believe they didnt know this was happening. How would one hide a tiger farm? Impossible. Note it says after legal action. You mean its been tied up in the courts because brown envelopes stopped coming. Whats does that even mean. Note this. If this were foreigners running this farm then action would be swift. Because its some thai criminals action is slow. Something needs changing in this country and it wont happen in my lifetime. Shameful. 

[kwilco]

9 minutes ago, Bim Smith said:

How many years has a blind eye been turned to this. I find it hard to believe they didnt know this was happening. How would one hide a tiger farm? Impossible. Note it says after legal action. You mean its been tied up in the courts because brown envelopes stopped coming. Whats does that even mean. Note this. If this were foreigners running this farm then action would be swift. Because its some thai criminals action is slow. Something needs changing in this country and it wont happen in my lifetime. Shameful. 

Th basic philosophy of many people of influence in Thailand is that animals are not sentient but mere commodities and they simply can't understand what all the fuss is about.

[rwill]

I hope they fare better than the tigers they 'rescued' from Kanchanaburi several years ago.   Within a year half of them died in government facilities.

[newbee2022]

10 minutes ago, Bim Smith said:

Something needs changing in this country

Interesting point. And now please tell me: What exactly should be changed? Then WHO should change it? 

[kwilco]

10 minutes ago, Bim Smith said:

Something needs changing in this country and it wont happen in my lifetime. Shameful. 

chamge is happening - slowly as younger [people take over - also Thailand hs been called to account of more than one occasion by CITES - no doubt this will get some more publicity soon.

[Skeptic7]

Hopefully big fines, arrests and jail time for the greedy abusers. These prisons, including most zoos, should all be shuttered and made illegal...once all the animals have been rescued and transferred to legitimate facilities. 

[neeray]

That poor emaciated tiger in the article picture seems to have a headache, probably severe mental issues. Hopefully it will have a more pleasant future.

[ezzra]

This is unforgivable, the farm should be shut and their owners put in jail for prolonged cruelty to animals, it IS a Crime...

But here in Thailand cruelty to animals is an everyday thing...

[kwilco]

1 minute ago, rwill said:

I hope they fare better than the tigers they 'rescued' from Kanchanaburi several years ago.   Within a year half of them died in government facilities.

That was a fiasco. The tiger Temple had to be shut down but they made sure that the "rescue" was a disaster.

Edwin Wiek the conservationist noted at the time that cramped conditions enabled the spread of disease among the big cats. He falso pointed out that the government’s tried to do it on a very limited budget. This prevented officials from treating those affected by "canine distemper" of all things.  - A virus easily managed with proper food and supplements, clean water, and space to roam.

They just weren't prepared to take in so many tigers at once and the authorities should have asked for outside help, but instead they insisted on doing it all by themselves.

It is also thought that inbreeding may have caused those tigers to have weakened immune responses.

 

 

[Artisi]

"Undisclosed" says it all - the reason it has now only just surfaced. 

[rwill]

10 minutes ago, kwilco said:

That was a fiasco. The tiger Temple had to be shut down but they made sure that the "rescue" was a disaster.

Edwin Wiek the conservationist noted at the time that cramped conditions enabled the spread of disease among the big cats. He falso pointed out that the government’s tried to do it on a very limited budget. This prevented officials from treating those affected by "canine distemper" of all things.  - A virus easily managed with proper food and supplements, clean water, and space to roam.

They just weren't prepared to take in so many tigers at once and the authorities should have asked for outside help, but instead they insisted on doing it all by themselves.

It is also thought that inbreeding may have caused those tigers to have weakened immune responses.

 

 

About half of the tigers were brought to a wildlife place in Ratchaburi.  As you say most died there from some disease.  When the tigers were first sent there they put a big billboard out on the road asking for donations to take care of the tigers.  After about a year the billboard was removed.

[nobodysfriend]

4 hours ago, webfact said:

It is expected that 35 tigers in total will eventually be rescued from the farm.

 

There are no limits to what people are able to do when they see profit .

Clearly the monsters are outside the the cage .

No heart , no empathy , and no love ... humons .

[PETERTHEEATER]

Are these animals Asiatic tigers?

[kwilco]

47 minutes ago, rwill said:

About half of the tigers were brought to a wildlife place in Ratchaburi.  As you say most died there from some disease.  When the tigers were first sent there they put a big billboard out on the road asking for donations to take care of the tigers.  After about a year the billboard was removed.

2016 - 147 big cats were removed from tiger temple. Three years later, 86 were dead,  the  61 survivors are still in government care

[kwilco]

8 minutes ago, PETERTHEEATER said:

Are these animals Asiatic tigers?

 

THey should be indochinese (corbetti) but most likely are hybrids or Bengali

 

[Thingamabob]

Arriving in 'Buddhist' Thailand for the first time in 1961 I was shocked and disappointed to see the cruel way many Thais treated animals, and the widespread killing and eating of, inter-alia, pigs and chickens. Not all Thais, but the vast majority. Very well done to those good people who have rescued these big cats. Bless you.

[Marco51]

2 hours ago, bunnydrops said:

I wonder how they fed that many tigers, dogs? cats? ex mob members?

villagers that didn't keep their mouths shut

[Hervey Bay]

2 hours ago, hotchilli said:

Should sedate the farm owners and operators.

 

No, they should be starved until their physical condition resembles the cat in that photo.

[deesquared]

"Rescued." Trading one cage for another. 

[PETERTHEEATER]

25 minutes ago, kwilco said:

 

THey should be indochinese (corbetti) but most likely are hybrids or Bengali

 

Thanks. 

I suspect that the NGO was encouraged to 'go in' to avoid an official government raid which would have required some awkward explanations. 

 

 

 

 

[Grusa]

Driving from Kanchanaburi Town to Sai Yok Noi last week, there was on the right a huge brightly painted tiger head, at what I take to be the site of the Tiger Temple.

 

Is it still open, and does it still have tigers? If so......disgusting.