Practitioner mauled by tiger at temple sanctuary in Nakhon Pathom

[mervyn yap]

Maybe that tiger is in heat.

[Arkady]

There is plenty of information posted online by animal rights organisations about the animal abuse and corruption at the famous Tiger temple in Kanchanaburi Province which serves as the role model for all the other money spinning tiger temple scams that are proliferating around Thailand. Foreign volunteers have been infiltrated in and wrote detailed reports when they got home. Old and bad tempered beasts are slaughtered and sold for parts to the insane Chinese ED medicine trade and replaced with illegally smuggled tigers from Laos who are given the same names as the slaughtered cats to create the impression of longevity. Tigers are stupified before the tourists arrive and beaten and tortured after they have gone. Money they claim to be raising to build a new tiger sanctuary has been raised many times over but still no work has started on the sanctuary. And so it goes on with no action or even investigation from Thai authorities. There is too much money involved. You can see an interview of the abbot responding to the allegations on YouTube with so many jerks, twitches and sniggers that he would make a polygraph machine explode.

[tominbkk]

There is plenty of information posted online by animal rights organisations about the animal abuse and corruption at the famous Tiger temple in Kanchanaburi Province which serves as the role model for all the other money spinning tiger temple scams that are proliferating around Thailand. Foreign volunteers have been infiltrated in and wrote detailed reports when they got home. Old and bad tempered beasts are slaughtered and sold for parts to the insane Chinese ED medicine trade and replaced with illegally smuggled tigers from Laos who are given the same names as the slaughtered cats to create the impression of longevity. Tigers are stupified before the tourists arrive and beaten and tortured after they have gone. Money they claim to be raising to build a new tiger sanctuary has been raised many times over but still no work has started on the sanctuary. And so it goes on with no action or even investigation from Thai authorities. There is too much money involved. You can see an interview of the abbot responding to the allegations on YouTube with so many jerks, twitches and sniggers that he would make a polygraph machine explode.

Sickening but not surprising.

[JJttttt1]

This is what happens when somebody forgets that predator will always be a predator, regardless how much time do you spend with it. Humans are natural victims of them and sooner or later tigers bethink it.

As for me, I never shared the passion for these perfect killing machines...

[SSSlongtime]

let them go

[MILT]

Limited space for these majestic animals. What a shameful thing where the government allows them to be kept in non zoo supervised facilities like a makeshift pen in a monastery. PETA should get involved immediately in investigating the habitat of these big cats in these Thai monasteries.

More educating the Thai people instead of bringing in the extreme western victorian (PETA) views on such matters. it is a Thai problem and should be solved by Thais.

[Hecate]

"Visibly irritated"? No kidding. That looks more like a prison than a "sanctuary" to me. Of course, the tigers get free dope, but I'm sure that's small consolation.

Don't patronize these establishments. They are not doing a thing for the animals, and they are only set up so millions of baht pour in for monks who are violating their vow of poverty. People are injured regularly.

Besides, you'll look like a thoughtless moron posing next to a sketched out tiger.

[khunken]

Limited space for these majestic animals. What a shameful thing where the government allows them to be kept in non zoo supervised facilities like a makeshift pen in a monastery. PETA should get involved immediately in investigating the habitat of these big cats in these Thai monasteries.

More educating the Thai people instead of bringing in the extreme western victorian (PETA) views on such matters. it is a Thai problem and should be solved by Thais.

Rubbish. There are a number of Thais who are members of PETA (I know at least one). The 'victorian' attitude belongs to money grabbing abbots. Anyone who can stop this cruelty should be praised.

[Hecate]

I have friends who pose their kids with these tigers. Good luck!

Get new friends.

[zappalot]

More educating the Thai people instead of bringing in the extreme western victorian (PETA) views on such matters. it is a Thai problem and should be solved by Thais.

stop daydreaming...

[SOTIRIOS]

Yeah, a 'sanctuary' for tigers.

....barely enough room for them to turn around without bumping into the fence or each other......hardly healthy..... cruel, actually...

(....the only argument could be that they would be hunted and killed otherwise....unless a real sanctuary exists for them....)

...so many stories of illegal poaching.....and logging.....in protected areas as well.......

[Yarinda]

This is one of an annoying scene I will never visit, monks, temple and tigers, why monk have to keep tiger in caption, what is their main duty!!! not reading Buddhism bible but earning money from tiger show?

[cloghead]

Practitioner

Of what, exactly?

Good question. That's the 1st thing I thought of...

Maybe practicing to be cat food

[khunken]

Yeah, a 'sanctuary' for tigers.

....barely enough room for them to turn around without bumping into the fence or each other......hardly healthy..... cruel, actually...

(....the only argument could be that they would be hunted and killed otherwise....unless a real sanctuary exists for them....)

...so many stories of illegal poaching.....and logging.....in protected areas as well.......

Don't disagree with your post but there are a number of real wildlife sanctuaries in Thailand. For example the Huai Kha Kaeng forest area has an estimated 250 tigers. There are a few in Khao Yai national park. The other paper (last Saturday, back page) has a very good article on the subject.

There is no excuse.

[epicstuff]

A number of temples in Thailand serve as sanctuary for tigers. Some monasteries became very popular with foreign tourists by offering the tourists a chance to take photo next to these wild cats. It seems many temples are chasing the tourist baht. I doubt monks receive any training prior to operating a wat as a zoo. Why the special exemption for a temple? Do monks have a divine ability to talk to animals? What do they do with this money that benefits the animals or society?

animals communicate on a different wave length.. I should Think that regular meditations and the karmic aura a monk would have, would allow them to be better equipped to nurture wild animals. some training and safety lessons might be in order if a Wat is opening the doors to the public..

[Nobelcat]

I have been to several of these "sanctuary's", with the family, maybe even at this same wat. I would consider them more as animal dumps, since all the animals are crammed into small dirty cages. I was told these animals have been "rescued", but looks more like they were acquired just to make money. Its a shame that people who pretend to hold life so dear, can do this to animals, and the people that visit these places, enjoying the suffering. Makes no sense to me. I really dont think many farang would go to these places, unless tricked by a tour operator, by telling they were going to a Sanctuary, or in my case, Thai family, wanting to see wildlife.

Thais hold life dear? Thought it was around 100,000 baht or so for a life? Or 50,000 baht if your police station burns down.

[circusman]

These animals are bored and pissed off and they only need to have a bad hair day and flick out the claws and at that point they have a 5 bladed stanley knife to play with. All they have done with this 'practioner' is show a little grumpiness and he will end up with severe lacerations, so deep that the tendons and nerves in the arm will likely have been severed. If they would have given him a good 'mauling' there would be little left! I obviously don't know but it would seem that these 5 animals are in captivity to try and spawn another Tiger petting monastery where clearly many millions of baht flood in from tourists wanting to be Joy or George Adamson.

Amazing JIM you have jumped to about as many conclussions as possible.Tendons and nerves? You know very little but still have to have your say. BS I say.

[lee b]

And this is the main reason i don't goto these places. The second is the point i dont like that they are kept prisoners

[CIHUAHUA]

It was only tasting. Tigers don't eat rice.

[Maggusoil]

Entrepreneurial monks are the talk of the day aren't they?

Does anyone know the Thai interpretation of laissez-faire?

Perhaps the French coined it after coming here originally.

[Wombat6]

No idea why the tiger would attack?

"Tiger attacks in the Sundarbans, in India and Bangladesh are estimated to kill from 50-250 people per year."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiger_attacks_in_the_Sundarbans

Maybe the Police got their education watching cereal commercials

Screen Shot 2013-07-08 at 11.38.37 AM.jpg

And what were the people who were killed , doing.?? Illegal farming :logging; poaching etc etc.

[GentlemanJim]

A number of temples in Thailand serve as sanctuary for tigers. Some monasteries became very popular with foreign tourists by offering the tourists a chance to take photo next to these wild cats. It seems many temples are chasing the tourist baht. I doubt monks receive any training prior to operating a wat as a zoo. Why the special exemption for a temple? Do monks have a divine ability to talk to animals? What do they do with this money that benefits the animals or society?

animals communicate on a different wave length.. I should Think that regular meditations and the karmic aura a monk would have, would allow them to be better equipped to nurture wild animals. some training and safety lessons might be in order if a Wat is opening the doors to the public..

Is that like the Karmic Aura they display to get people to but them private jets and get kilo's of Gold at a time for 'movement' to the US? Or the regular meditations required before they put their keys in their ferrari? It is not Karmic Aurathat allows these Monks to 'nurture' the Tigers (for lots of money) it will be drugs, lots of them, and when the drugs wear off the Tigers maul people...Doh! That's what happened in this story.

These animals are bored and pissed off and they only need to have a bad hair day and flick out the claws and at that point they have a 5 bladed stanley knife to play with. All they have done with this 'practioner' is show a little grumpiness and he will end up with severe lacerations, so deep that the tendons and nerves in the arm will likely have been severed. If they would have given him a good 'mauling' there would be little left! I obviously don't know but it would seem that these 5 animals are in captivity to try and spawn another Tiger petting monastery where clearly many millions of baht flood in from tourists wanting to be Joy or George Adamson.

Amazing JIM you have jumped to about as many conclussions as possible.Tendons and nerves? You know very little but still have to have your say. BS I say.

Sigh! What conclusions Circusman?

I went to look at a Circus that had arrived in the UK about 20 years ago and they had a compound you could look at round the back with the big cats in. One of the handlers was a young lad about 25-30 and he was stood near me talking to the groups of interested people. When he came to talk to us I noticed he had a scar from the elbow joint down to the wrist. It was two lines across and 12 inches long, there were a lot of auxiliary scars near the wrist and signs of deep muscle loss. He was telling us about the cats and came to a Tiger, he said, 'she is my favourite but she has a bit of a temper' and held his arm up to show us. It turns out he was sweeping inside the pen, he had known the cat since it was a cub. the animals were irritated and this one just ran and swiped out at him with the right paw. It caught the arm that was holding the brush and in his words ' Her claws went through my arm like a knife through butter'. The main tendon to his hand was now somewhere up near his armpit (i think you get what I am driving at) and the nerves to the hand and main blood vessels were all severed. It took four operations and 12 months rehab to get his hand to work again and at the time he still had no feeling in his thumb and first two fingers. Nice lad, a bit dim, but what is a guy supposed to do that just knows how to sweep out Tiger crap, so that's what he carried on doing.

So, what conclusions? Are the cries of BS necessary or do the early day beers just make you feel aggressive? Have you been witness to every Tiger strike on humans, or are you an out of work Tiger trainer teaching English. Perhaps you stroked a Tiger once and read about them via Google. So, save us all from guessing, what is a Tiger strike/mauling going to do to a human limb and will it need more than a band aid and three stitches? Come on then Circusman bring on the clowns.

Edited July 8, 2013 by GentlemanJim

[hellodolly]

Why are they being kept at a temple other than to bring in money.

Release them back to the wild where they belong

That is the $64 000 question! They call them Tiger 'sanctuaries', but in reality it is just a money spinner for head Monks. This is how they start on their way to private jets and Louis Vuitton bags!

Just how many Monks have private jets and Louis Vuitton bags?

to the best of my knowledge one.

This is Thailand the Louis Vuitton bag could have been a knock off.

I agree that Tigers are kept in some pretty confining places but what gets me is they will keep them sedated.

Just out of curiosity why can they not run free in Thailand? Why do they need these so called sanctuaries.

[GentlemanJim]

Why are they being kept at a temple other than to bring in money.

Release them back to the wild where they belong

That is the $64 000 question! They call them Tiger 'sanctuaries', but in reality it is just a money spinner for head Monks. This is how they start on their way to private jets and Louis Vuitton bags!

Just how many Monks have private jets and Louis Vuitton bags?

to the best of my knowledge one.

This is Thailand the Louis Vuitton bag could have been a knock off.

I agree that Tigers are kept in some pretty confining places but what gets me is they will keep them sedated.

Just out of curiosity why can they not run free in Thailand? Why do they need these so called sanctuaries.

.....so the head Monks can make good coin!

[phantomfiddler]

"Zat", "Wazoo", Just a thought.

A number of temples in Thailand serve as sanctuary for tigers. Some monasteries became very popular with foreign tourists by offering the tourists a chance to take photo next to these wild cats. It seems many temples are chasing the tourist baht. I doubt monks receive any training prior to operating a wat as a zoo. Why the special exemption for a temple? Do monks have a divine ability to talk to animals? What do they do with this money that benefits the animals or society?

[GentlemanJim]

A number of temples in Thailand serve as sanctuary for tigers. Some monasteries became very popular with foreign tourists by offering the tourists a chance to take photo next to these wild cats. It seems many temples are chasing the tourist baht. I doubt monks receive any training prior to operating a wat as a zoo. Why the special exemption for a temple? Do monks have a divine ability to talk to animals? What do they do with this money that benefits the animals or society?

animals communicate on a different wave length.. I should Think that regular meditations and the karmic aura a monk would have, would allow them to be better equipped to nurture wild animals. some training and safety lessons might be in order if a Wat is opening the doors to the public..

Is that like the Karmic Aura they display to get people to but them private jets and get kilo's of Gold at a time for 'movement' to the US? Or the regular meditations required before they put their keys in their ferrari? It is not Karmic Aurathat allows these Monks to 'nurture' the Tigers (for lots of money) it will be drugs, lots of them, and when the drugs wear off the Tigers maul people...Doh! That's what happened in this story.

LOL no I'm not talking about that karmic aura.. I had my tongue in my cheek slightly writing that. However the grain of truth it was based on is that some people can deal with animals better than others . Its not always about whos got a degree in zoology. there's alot more than that behind how an animal will react to a humans presence.. calmness & giving out the right signals among them...

Agreed, I was pulling your leg

[Fantastic5]

Limited space for these majestic animals. What a shameful thing where the government allows them to be kept in non zoo supervised facilities like a makeshift pen in a monastery. PETA should get involved immediately in investigating the habitat of these big cats in these Thai monasteries.

PETA is a joke, it os just another organisation out for profit also at the cost of many animals, do t take these charities to seriously, someone i know who used to be a director for a charity said thwt charities are the best way to secure a profit and are easilyvpased on without tax.

Temple, zoo, private collection, really not much difference in thailand, not been to one and seen them housing them properly.

[tigergrl]

Limited space for these majestic animals. What a shameful thing where the government allows them to be kept in non zoo supervised facilities like a makeshift pen in a monastery. PETA should get involved immediately in investigating the habitat of these big cats in these Thai monasteries.

then PETA can immediately euthanise the tigers because their philosophy is animals are better off dead than with humans. not that the tigers should be living in a tiny cage.. but PETA does not rescue animals. they euthanise them.

[rbrooks]

The Tiger does not need to hide what he is truly is after, meat but the Buddhist monk does need to mask the real reason for the captivity and show of these majestic cats, money! If they really cared about animals why don't they put all the roaming Soi dogs in the wats and take care of them, at least they would be safer from attack.

[sunshine51]

I've photographed wild animals, including tigers, in their natural habitat. I've had the

experience of once in a lifetime encounters with "wild animals" on more than one

occasion where "it all went nicely thank you". I've literally crapped my pants a good

many times when "it didn't go nicely". We humans like to call animals either domestic

or wild due to how they can or cannot "work" for/with us whereas a truly wild animal

works for itself or its like group and could really care less for humans and what we

humans do or think. Hell...we used to be hunters...then became farmers and have

now mostly become couch potato's thanks to supermarkets...and the mom & pop

corner store. The only hunting we do nowadays is down some aisle looking for

a nice prime rib, some veggies, ice cream and Lord knows what else.

Wild animals in cages are kept for OUR amusement...remember that.

Not the animal's.

Especially since present day man wouldn't survive a day in a "wild" animals

realm even if surrounded by grazers and not a carnivorous predator around

for miles. Sadly due to some mythical beliefs quite a bunch of "wild" animals

must be kept in nature parks & zoo's just to try and preserve their species

for future generations. Their's not ours.

A tiger in the "wild" has a range of over 50 kilometers per day...more if food

is scarce....no zoo is that large and a so called sanctuary is in effect cruel

and unusual punnishment of any wild animal who...in effect...is just wanting

to feed itself/group, relax after a good meal and enjoy its life the way that

wild animal see's fit.

I doubt any monk in any sanctuary can speak even a few phrases of Tiger;

which are mostly rumbling grunts of joy or anger (sometimes hard to

differentiate) or can, with some accuracy, tell if a tiger or any "wild" animal

for that matter...simply wants to be left alone. Pertaining to myself and being

around "wild" animals far more than should be allowed, I'm no expert in

wild animal behaviour, however there is 30+ years observing these critters

behind me and I do believe I have gaduated from rookie to advanced apprentice.

Which means I can...with reasonable accuracy say that any "sanctuary",

anywhere in the world....that let's the generally ignorant public interact with

"wild" animals on or in its compound...is inviting trouble in a sugar coated way.

There is also no such thing as a sanctuary when the general ignorant public

is allowed inside it...it then becomes an oxymoron...where does sanctuary

go? Right out the window that's where. Or it ends up in the paper as the animals

fault.

edited to tidy up some spelling...fat fingeritis..

Edited July 8, 2013 by sunshine51