Tiger Temple raided:

[German Viking]

Did you know there is a tiger facility in khao yai np ? Maybe they will end up there.

1 more rocket scientist.

[German Viking]

Did you know there is a tiger facility in khao yai np ? Maybe they will end up there.

firstly I don't think they are being moved and secondly there are over one hundred Tigers - do you think they have room there? what sort of "facility" is it?

several big cages.....already got inmates but...maybe waiting for china

This is not a funny topic, probably 1 more who got a to high dose.

[German Viking]

One things for sure if they released and looked after in a conservationists way the well being of these tigers into a national park, then I'd pay extra to visit the park. In a jeep with armed park rangers for security, of course.

The tigers have lived their entire lives in cages being fed dead chickens. If released into the wild or a semi wild situation they would quickly die of starvation but before that they would likely take out the closest tourists

Can't they be slowly rehabilitated into the wild? I seem to remember reading it happening to captive lions years ago somewhere.

These lions was not drugged and degenerated for almost 2 decades, like these tigers, just forget it.

[German Viking]

Can't they be slowly rehabilitated into the wild? I seem to remember reading it happening to captive lions years ago somewhere.

How many times does it have to be said? YOU CAN'T RELEASE THOSE TIGERS INTO THE WILD - they are an ecological time bomb.

the best you could ever do is release them into a large "tiger-proof" enclosure.

it is also inaccurate to suggest that they would starve - that has little or nothing to do with it.

On the contrary if tigers accustomed to being hand fed are released into a wild or semi wild situation they will not be able to find food as they never learnt hunting behaviour. They will indeed die of starvation!!

They will catch the easiest prey, humans.

[German Viking]

You're speaking as if you might have been a zoo manager in a previous lifetime? We're in Thailand so they might release whatever hybrid or variant they please into a safari park or worse still a wildlife sanctuary, if no one is paying attention. They tried to do the same with Australian bred Sarus cranes a few years back didn't they!! Hey there's an idea, Cambodia has officially lost all its tigers so why not offer some wild Thai (Temple) Tigers for a reintroduction program? What a generous contribution that would be. Hell why not offer all 100 to bring back tigers in Cambodia, Lao and Vietnam.

Like This

Id say that almost 100% of everything youve written there has an incorrect premise or assumption...........

Im not speaking as if I was a manager, Im speaking as someone who has read widely and to some extent has a basic knowledge of the principals of conservation and animal welfare. I also have a working knowledge of Thailand, its society and politics. All this is available to anyone who takes the time to find out. Ive been interested in wildlife all my life but I wasnt especially drawn to big cats - Tigers in particular - until I came to Thailand and saw the predicament they are in and the terrible and wanton degradation of their habitat by the country and the myths and falsehoods disseminated by such establishments as the temple and others. That was over 12 years ago.....

I think one of the reasons the Tiger temple has lasted so long is that the general public both Thai and foreign dont seem to have a clue about the issues involved.

A wildlife sanctuary and a safari park are not the same thing - a wildlife sanctuary is an area with special conditions to preserve wildlife - the Huai Kha Kaeng Sanctuary is one such place and is the centre for Tiger conservation in the Kingdom. It doesnt have fences around it - its too big - it is a core area that relies on buffer zones to protect the heart from human interference. - e.g. development, logging poaching etc.... these op0f course are under threat - by such projects as the Mae Wong Dam.

For me the only thing in the above post that makes any sense at all is the idea of a Safari Park - if the Tigers from the temple are to be kept in anything that approaches a natural environment then they need a large FENCED area that keeps them isolated from any indigenous tigers.

Tigers are solitary animals most of the time and need a large amount of space, depending on prey etc. - they need a minimum of about 10 km square each up to 500 km2 in areas sparse in prey (e.g. Siberia).

This of course would be like a Thai Jurassic Park, with all the concomitant management nightmares.

It also seems that some posters dont seem to understand why hybrids or inbred animals are so dangerous to conservation...........

The subspecies of Tiger that has evolved in this area is the sub-species Corbetti - if you introduce another sub-species, or worse still, an inbreed number of animals you will destroy the current gene-pool and may even lead to unhealthy or diseased animals thus rendering that entire sub-species extinct. There are in fact about 200 to 300 hundred wild tigers left in and around Thailand and even if the animals were OK, introducing that number of animals from the temple would have a disastrous affect on the indigenous population. Unless the animals are deemed not to be hybrids or interbred THEY CANNOT BE RELEASED -......anywhere!!!

The Tiger isnt officially extinct in Cambodia and you seem to overlook that all tigers dont actually have passports or any concept of nationality.

I dont know why you think that releasing them in Cambodia would be any less disastrous than in Thailand - tigers need to be released in an eco system that can support them - by definition this means they will almost certainly encounter other tigers at some point. ,and breed.

The conservation efforts regarding tigers are international and the current programs cover all of the western forest complex and areas from the S.E. Asian peninsular up to India Nepal and Bhutan....Thailand is one of the weakest links in this and establishments like the temple that promote misinformation about tigers are at least partly to blame.

I believe the plane to introduce the Sarus crane has been abandoned in Cambodia or at least suspended - there are/were also plans to reintroduce it to Thailand - the Sarus has several subspecies and there are various obstacles and concerns relating to this........ and if these have proved too difficult imagine the problems surrounding Tigers.

I think hardly anyone on this thread has the faintest idea of how incredibly longwinded and complicated it is to re-introduce a species into anywhere - and introducing a bird is a completely different exercise compared to introducing an apex predator. As far as Im aware there is only one scheme at present to reintroduce tigers - thats in Siberia - an area with a very sparse human population and which has bee shown to have the right kind of prey and ecosystem to do this - even so it is costing a fortune and there is no guarantee it will be successful.

You cant just open a gate and say, go tiger! go!...run free and thrive - you have to realise the animals into bio systems that are prepared and ready with appropriate supplies of prey and natural habitat and that also requires all the other animals to have their food chain intact which in turn requires vegetation which in turn requires the correct soil and water - - you get the gist?

Thailand potentially has enough free land space for about 2000 tigers, but it needs a government with the will to do something. Essentially there never has been any government in Thailand that has done any more than give lip service to wildlife and conservation

Legislation to protect animals in Thailand is virtually non-existent - a law passed in 2013 - the first of its kind - actually omits any wildlife from its scope - dealing only with domestic animals....too a greater or lesser extent.

We're in Thailand so they might release whatever hybrid or variant they please -

Not likely! - whereas successive Thai governments and the general public are not very concerned about wildlife and conservation, there ARE some people who are passionate about it....and it would take some extraordinary mismanagement - even for Thailand - to release these animals once they had been confiscated from the temple. If they di they would become the pariahs of the Conservation world and probably be in breach of their obligations to CITES which would bring about yet another threat of sanctions against the country.

The raid of the temple as far as I can see was just a bungled bit of aggression by some people with an axe to grind - I dont see any evidence....yet.....that it was aimed at improving the lot of one single animal or righting the apparent multitude of wrongs at the temple.

I do however see a lot of evidence that neither foreigners nor Thais have given a moments thought about what should happen to the temple in order to bring it in line with good conservation principles.......

Why not leave the temple, the tigers and the monks alone. Get on with your own sad existence. Has any of you posters seen a documentary called(The Cove)? All countries have ways of treating animals, just cause you don't agree doesn't make it wrong. How far do these animal rights protesters go? Is it cruel to hook a fish then pull the hook out and let it go? China recently sent a dog into space to test a new space rocket. What about shark fins being chopped off for soup in China? What about plastic bags polluting the coral reefs of many of Thailand's islands? The list is endless.

1 more with a too high dose probably or just somebody who was involved in this business, you sounds like this.

[German Viking]

Hey Cumsquawch, captive breeding is necessary for the survival of the species.

Check out the WWF website - http://wwf.panda.org/?103860/Captive-Breeding-WWF-Policy-Statement-2007

1 more rocket scientist.

[cumgranosalum]

Hey Cumsquawch, captive breeding is necessary for the survival of the species.

Check out the WWF website - http://wwf.panda.org/?103860/Captive-Breeding-WWF-Policy-Statement-2007

I'm so glad you've posted this as it epitomises the total ignorance of people about wildlife conservation and in this cse tigers.

It is quite clear that you either haven't or failed to understand the article you have referenced.

Let me just point out this for a starter - there is a HUGE difference between a captive breeding program and breeding in captivity.

Now PLEASE go and read the article and then read up on how breeding tigers may help or hinder conservation before posting such nonsense again.