British student, 19, mauled by 400lb tiger in Thailand at popular tourist attraction

[webfact]

Student, 19, mauled by 400lb tiger in Thailand at popular tourist attraction
Isabelle Brennan was knocked to the ground and attacked at the Tiger Temple sanctuary
Sister and friend dragged her to safety
Left with four inch wound and is scarred for life
She still struggles to walk unaided eight weeks on
By ALISON SMITH SQUIRE

HARROGATE: -- Enjoying the trip of a lifetime to Thailand, university student Isabelle Brennan strokes a young tiger at a popular tourist attraction – one of the few places in the world where you can pet the deadly animals while they sleep.

But just minutes after a photo was taken, another 400lb tiger leapt into the frame, knocking the 19-year-old to the ground with its paw and sinking its teeth into her thigh.

She was saved when keepers at the Tiger Temple sanctuary in West Thailand jumped between her and the animal, while her sister and travelling companion Georgie, 21, dragged her to safety.

Eight weeks on, Miss Brennan is recovering at home in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, but cannot walk unaided, while doctors said the four-inch wound will leave her scarred for life.

The University College London student wants to warn others of the dangers of approaching the orphaned tigers, which are hand-reared by Buddhist monks at the controversial sanctuary.

Full story: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2407513/Student-19-mauled-400lb-tiger-Thailand-popular-tourist-attraction.html

-- Daily Mail 2013-08-31

[Soutpeel]

where you can pet the deadly animals while they sleep

Whats the old saying..."let sleeping dogs lie"

[Somtamnication]

I never said British tourists are stupid, but this one clearly was! These tigers are drugged, de-clawed and god-knows what else, to benefit these "monks".

Tourists need to read up on this and other tiger slave trade businesses before embarking on these tours. One reason I never go to Phuket Zoo. The tiger there is vewy vewy sweepy.

[Pimay1]

IMO anyone who tries to pet a tiger sleeping or not is a good candidate for the Darwin awards.

Edited August 31, 2013 by Pimay1

[rookball]

uh uh. time to up the dose huh?

even my white flurry house cat gave me love bites time to time, let alone having strangers caressing her

[Soutpeel]

IMO anyone who tries to pet a tiger sleeping or not is a good candidate for the Darwin awards.

The quote in the article that got me was what the staff told her..."dont worry no has been seriously injured before"...

[bigbamboo]

My wife and I had our photos taken sitting alongside a tiger at Nong Nooch. It took a while to persuade us and several others watched us before following suit. The tiger was obviously drugged although it's handler said he wasn't but what I remember most was he how solid he was. I was expecting cat like sinew and muscle under the fur but he was like concrete. The thought of one of those beauties attacking you is scary enough to never make me do it again.

[virtualtraveller]

'Holiday of a lifetime'

'Deadly animal'

'Leapt into'

'Sank teeth'

'Scarred for life'

Gotta love the British Daily Mail for its trashy and sensationalist reporting eh? And people actually buy this paper more than any other except the equally awful Sun.

[Soutpeel]

'Holiday of a lifetime'

'Deadly animal'

'Leapt into'

'Sank teeth'

'Scarred for life'

Gotta love the British Daily Mail for its trashy and sensationalist reporting eh? And people actually buy this paper more than any other except the equally awful Sun.

granted the Daily mail on the same level as the The times, but what in anything you quoted is not factually correct ?

Is a tiger not a deadly animal ?

Did the tiger not leap onto her ?

did the tiger not sink its teeth in her ?

and are you suggesting she will not be scarred for life ?...based on the photo one suspects she will

[angsta]

Why would you give an organisation money that you knew was administering drugs to large animals for financial gain? You are basically supporting them and this bullsiht. I hope they attack many more tourists and someone puts a stop to this practice for good. It isn't anything to be proud of, just so you can have a new facebook profile picture.

[Patje]

Really, if she can get away with this stupid behavior she should try to cross a street in BKK blindfolded next time. it looks like the brains stay at home if tourists leave for vacation.....

[xray]

I don't fault the young lady for taking the chance of petting a tiger. It wasn't the tiger she was petting that attacked her, rather a rogue cat who was probably jealous of the attention.

Edited August 31, 2013 by xray

[Yunla]

Always pack some Frosties.

[davejones]

'Holiday of a lifetime'

'Deadly animal'

'Leapt into'

'Sank teeth'

'Scarred for life'

Gotta love the British Daily Mail for its trashy and sensationalist reporting eh? And people actually buy this paper more than any other except the equally awful Sun.

It's popular because people like you love reading it and commenting on it. I don't hear you mentioning the unpopular papers.

[Soutpeel]

it looks like the brains stay at home if tourists leave for vacation.....

A bit like the brains stay at home behaviour exhibited by personages living in Thailand who profess not to be tourists on vacation, but "residents" you mean ?

This may have not been the smartest move, but are you suggesting all accountability is on this girl ?

The tiger temple has a great deal of accoutability in this case... for encouraging the girl to do this, for a fee, I assume

Having been to the tiger temple, there is "hard selling" by people at the temple for tourists to get their photo's taken simply because they are making money out it, so they are going to tell somebody anything to get their hands on the cash...

these are wild animals and the temple should not even encourage this...

[BrianCR]

Perhaps it's about time to release the tigers and put the monks down! Or, something like that

[chooka]

So was this 400lb tiger the mother of the cub?

[Beetlejuice]

This was bound to happen and it`s not if, but when will it be until someone is killed?

These are wild animals, big predators of the jungle, not cuddly pussy cats or domesticated pets.

Tourists should boycott these institutions of animal cruelty and suffering for profits and put them out of business.

Edited August 31, 2013 by Beetlejuice

[Goshawk]

one of the few places in the world where you can pet the deadly animals while they sleep

= while they're drugged.

plenty (not few) of these places around, especially in Thailand. One near Chiang Mai immediately springs to my mind (close to Mae Rim) where these huge adult cats are so obviously under some powerful quick acting tranquilizer drug as to allow the public to actually stroke and pet them, that it really beggars belief.

yes.. i'm guilty of going to these places, but only to see for myself the massive risk/gamble that the unscrupulous owners of these cash cow 'attractions' burden themselves with.

i'm not surprised by this attack, the many before it, or the one's that will certainly happen in the future at these silly 'big cat parks'.

alas... will anything be done? doubt it..

[chooka]

it looks like the brains stay at home if tourists leave for vacation.....

A bit like the brains stay at home behaviour exhibited by personages living in Thailand who profess not to be tourists on vacation, but "residents" you mean ?

This may have not been the smartest move, but are you suggesting all accountability is on this girl ?

The tiger temple has a great deal of accoutability in this case... for encouraging the girl to do this, for a fee, I assume

Having been to the tiger temple, there is "hard selling" by people at the temple for tourists to get their photo's taken simply because they are making money out it, so they are going to tell somebody anything to get their hands on the cash...

these are wild animals and the temple should not even encourage this...

Think they are seen more as a commodity than an animal.

[farang000999]

I hope that they put this Tiger through the proper procedures to repair his karma.

[Pandora13]

This article is so contradictory... First they say that she was petting one tiger when another one jumped in and attacked her and then when they quote her it sounds like she was attacked by the tiger she was petting. Then later on they say that she was attacked by a tiger she was washing... So which was it?

[boomerangutang]

I went to one of those places, north of Chiang Mai. Many tourists go there. My Thai g.f. insisted on going. When strolling around the compound, we noticed some 'guides' training tiger kittens. A guide would provoke a kit, and if the kit showed any natural response, like opening its mouth, growling or raising a paw, the guide would smack it sharply on its muzzle with a chopstick. The guides were chuckling with each other, while de-naturing the kits. Yuksville.

[wedders]

Only time I went there, an Aussie woman tourist was loudly talking down to some obviously nervous fellow visitors, lecturing us all on how you had to be firm and masterful, to show them who's boss. During a demonstration she turned her back on one of the youngsters, which promptly jumped up and bit her hard on the arse. Blood everywhere. The woman was so embarrassed. Cruel I know, but you can imagine how amusing some of us found it.

[culicine]

IMO anyone who tries to pet a tiger sleeping or not is a good candidate for the Darwin awards.

The quote in the article that got me was what the staff told her..."dont worry no has been seriously injured before"...

Of course. If that tiger had been 'serious', the girl would not be alive today. It was probably just having a play after the dosage wore off:)

[Mampara]

My wife and I had our photos taken sitting alongside a tiger at Nong Nooch. It took a while to persuade us and several others watched us before following suit. The tiger was obviously drugged although it's handler said he wasn't but what I remember most was he how solid he was. I was expecting cat like sinew and muscle under the fur but he was like concrete. The thought of one of those beauties attacking you is scary enough to never make me do it again.

"Born to be wild"

[Kerryd]

Hmmmm - I'm noticing how this story is over 8 weeks old, yet we are just hearing about it now (and in that particular media outlet) ? I tried some googling and all the stories are either the same, or link to the same as in the OP, nothing older than a couple days despite this woman being back in the UK for at least 6 weeks now (according to those stories).

Odd that it didn't even get reported (and have at least 5 pages of discussion) on Thaivisa either. Masterful job by the Tourism of Thailand ministry at covering this up, or, maybe, we aren't getting the full, true story ?

Not say that this would be the first time someone has done something, then returned to their home country, then concocted some wild story to cover up whatever they did to make it look like they weren't to blame.

Nah, that would never happen (again........and again.......and yet again), would it ? I guess that leaves us with just a masterful cover up..........

Oh, btw - checked up on "featureworld.co.uk" which is shown on most of the pictures in the article. From their website:

Sell My Story…

SELLING YOUR STORY WITH ALISON – YOUR ONLINE MEDIA AGENT

Your story told how you want it to be in Women’s Magazines, National Newspapers and National TV. Perhaps selling your real-life story would help pay for a holiday? (my bolding)

Maybe you've read a real-life story in a national newspaper or women’s magazine and thought ‘That could be me?’ You might even dream of selling your life story and becoming famous or being on TV?

Yep - sounds perfectly legit to me !

And the "rossparry.co.uk" shown on the other pic ? A professional press agent website.)

Whistles as he looks away...........

[Dibbler]

If it discourages tourists to visit this place, then this incident has been a useful thing, albeit a painful one for the particular individual. Unfortunately, unless someone is actually killed by a tiger, there's not much hope for this front for an international wildlife smuggling operation to be shut down. Despite the wealth of evidence from investigations by govt and non-govt agencies, due to the particular people involved, enforcement agencies have already given up on the idea of using Thai law to charge the owners with the real crimes committed here.

[gaucho]

it was a pussy war ....

[RickeyParkany]

In case anyone forgot...Certain animals were meant to be in a particular environment. It is only by human interaction that animals are brought outside of those environments. Why the great shock when they behave in their normal manner. Did someone expect a tiger to act like a monk just because it was in a temple sanctuary.

Of course it would be interesting to see a tiger riding in one of its 20 luxury cars, and only a 14 year old girl would have to worry about being pounced upon

...priceless!!!