This news has been very disturbing. Such animal abuse must be stopped!
Police on June 7 also
found four more live tigers, as well as a slaughterhouse, during a raid on a
house in Kanchanaburi’s Muang district, which has suspected links to wildlife
trafficking and the Tiger Temple.
Deputy national police chief Chalermkiat Sriworakhan said yesterday he has told officers to inspect more than 30 locations where tigers and wild animals are kept and to verify if they had sought permission to operate legally.
Gen Chalermkiat said police are waiting for the results of DNA tests on live tigers and dead cubs found at Wat Pa Luang Ta Maha Bua, or the Tiger Temple.
If evidence emerges linking the temple to wildlife trafficking in Laos, he will set up a Royal Thai Police panel to handle the case. The case is being handled by Kanchanaburi’s Sai Yok police.
The Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation (DNP) has found a copy of a document that might link the Tiger Temple to wildlife trafficking. Authorities seized the photocopy of a contract involving an exchange of breeding tigers during last week’s relocation of the big cats from the temple.
The agreement was signed by the abbot of the Tiger Temple, Phra Wisutthi Sarathera, known as Luang Ta Chan, and people in Laos, department deputy chief Adisorn Nuchdamrong said. He said the contract indicates the temple may have been involved in the illegal wildlife trade.
Lawyers for the Foundation of Wat Pa Luang Ta Maha Bua said yesterday that the temple abbot will hold a media briefing tomorrow (June 9) to clarify all accusation.
Deputy national police chief Chalermkiat Sriworakhan said yesterday he has told officers to inspect more than 30 locations where tigers and wild animals are kept and to verify if they had sought permission to operate legally.
Gen Chalermkiat said police are waiting for the results of DNA tests on live tigers and dead cubs found at Wat Pa Luang Ta Maha Bua, or the Tiger Temple.
If evidence emerges linking the temple to wildlife trafficking in Laos, he will set up a Royal Thai Police panel to handle the case. The case is being handled by Kanchanaburi’s Sai Yok police.
The Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation (DNP) has found a copy of a document that might link the Tiger Temple to wildlife trafficking. Authorities seized the photocopy of a contract involving an exchange of breeding tigers during last week’s relocation of the big cats from the temple.
The agreement was signed by the abbot of the Tiger Temple, Phra Wisutthi Sarathera, known as Luang Ta Chan, and people in Laos, department deputy chief Adisorn Nuchdamrong said. He said the contract indicates the temple may have been involved in the illegal wildlife trade.
Lawyers for the Foundation of Wat Pa Luang Ta Maha Bua said yesterday that the temple abbot will hold a media briefing tomorrow (June 9) to clarify all accusation.
Also yesterday, armed with a
search warrant, police from the Natural Resources and Environmental Crime
Division raided a house in tambon Wang Dong in Kanchanaburi’s Muang
district.
The search found four tigers – two males aged 10 and one, and two females, aged 10, and two – kept in cages in the premises covering more than nine rai. A warehouse for storing tigers’ food, a large refrigerator, knives and other equipment believed to be used for relocating tigers were also found in the compound.
Two tiger keepers told police the tigers belong to house owner Thawat Khachornchaikul, 68, also known as Sia Tong.
Col Montree Pancharoen, deputy chief of the police division, said officers had found evidence the house is linked to trafficking and has served as a transit point for tiger trafficking as well as a tiger slaughterhouse.
He said authorities believed the house was also linked to the Tiger Temple, adding that DNA samples of the four tigers will be compared to those of the tigers relocated from the temple.
A probe will also be launched to find out if the four tigers were linked to the three tigers which went missing from the temple in 2014, Col Montree said.
Meanwhile, the Kanchanaburi land reform office erected a sign yesterday at the temple’s entrance, warning against trespass as the office is looking into claims of land misuse, provincial officer Watcharin Wakamanont said. The temple is also accused of encroaching on forest areas of almost 1,000 rai.
With many thanks to Phuket News
The search found four tigers – two males aged 10 and one, and two females, aged 10, and two – kept in cages in the premises covering more than nine rai. A warehouse for storing tigers’ food, a large refrigerator, knives and other equipment believed to be used for relocating tigers were also found in the compound.
Two tiger keepers told police the tigers belong to house owner Thawat Khachornchaikul, 68, also known as Sia Tong.
Col Montree Pancharoen, deputy chief of the police division, said officers had found evidence the house is linked to trafficking and has served as a transit point for tiger trafficking as well as a tiger slaughterhouse.
He said authorities believed the house was also linked to the Tiger Temple, adding that DNA samples of the four tigers will be compared to those of the tigers relocated from the temple.
A probe will also be launched to find out if the four tigers were linked to the three tigers which went missing from the temple in 2014, Col Montree said.
Meanwhile, the Kanchanaburi land reform office erected a sign yesterday at the temple’s entrance, warning against trespass as the office is looking into claims of land misuse, provincial officer Watcharin Wakamanont said. The temple is also accused of encroaching on forest areas of almost 1,000 rai.
With many thanks to Phuket News
More Abuse in The USA - Heartbreaking:
The Thai authorities had
seen enough. The discovery of 60 dead tiger cubs—frozen or preserved in jars—at
a so-called tiger sanctuary operated by Buddhist monks in Thailand sparked
worldwide outrage, and pressure on the government was mounting to do something.
In recent days, authorities did take action, shutting down the operation and removing 137 live tigers and more than 1,600 illegal items made from tiger parts. Several people were arrested on suspicion of wildlife trafficking. Under the guise of a rescue and conservation organization, the Tiger Temple served as a popular tourist attraction where, for a fee, members of the public were allowed to walk among a collection of chained tigers as well as pet and handle both adult and infant tigers.
It was especially bizarre that monks could run such an operation, but was this case just a very strange “one-off”? Unfortunately not. Here in the United States, we too have had a sort of tiger mania, and it’s been something of a regulatory free-for-all.
As far back as 2003, The HSUS worked with the California Fish and Game Commission to help rescue 54 severely neglected and malnourished big cats from a property. More than 90 tigers were also found dead and the owner was convicted on 56 counts, including 14 felonies.
In October 2011, a deranged owner of exotic animals released 50 of them into the community – including 18 tigers – in Zanesville, Ohio. The man, who had just been released from prison, took his own life after throwing open the gates of his private menagerie, putting the animals and people at risk. Sheriff’s deputies felt they had no choice and shot the animals roaming in a populated community, in a grisly scene that few of us will ever forget.
The U.S. tiger breeding industry exists solely to offer the public an opportunity to pet, hold, feed, play with, and even swim with tiger cubs. In our undercover investigations of two of these operations in 2014, we discovered shocking abuses.
The cubs were punched, slapped, dragged, and choked. The cubs at Natural Bridge Zoo in Virginia were never seen by a veterinarian despite the fact that they had bloody diarrhea from a parasitic infection. Cubs at Tiger Safari in Oklahoma suffered from ringworm but were still handled by hundreds of people. One of the most troubling things we learned from these investigations is that excessive hunger was used to control the cubs during photo ops with the public and they were also fed a nutritionally deficient diet.
Tiger cubs are typically discarded once they grow too large for public contact. Some are warehoused in small cages, sold to circuses, or used to breed more tigers for public handling. Some die prematurely, such as Maximus and Sarabi, the two cubs used for public handling during our investigation at Tiger Safari.
Both died before their second birthdays. Discarded cubs may end up in the pet trade. Last September, an abandoned, declawed tiger cub was found wandering through a neighborhood in California. And last April, a pet tiger cub escaped and was discovered hiding in some bushes in a Texas neighborhood.
Two federal agencies have recently taken steps to crack down on these cottage tiger-abuse industries. Under the Endangered Species Act, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service issued a final regulation closing a regulatory loophole that exempted generic (mixed-breed) tigers from oversight. Generic tigers are no longer exempt from permitting requirements and as a result, it will be much harder for roadside zoos and breeders to engage in commercial activities with captive tigers. In response to a legal petition drafted by The HSUS, the USDA issued guidance to make clear that allowing the public to handle tiger cubs four weeks of age or younger violates the Animal Welfare Act because these vulnerable infants are unable to regulate their body temperature and they lack a fully functioning immune system to fight off disease and infection.
To its credit, one roadside zoo in Alabama announced it was discontinuing tiger cub photo ops as a result of the USDA’s action.
These regulatory actions may reduce the U.S. tiger trade, but more work needs to be done to put a stop to it. A number of facilities continue to offer tiger and lion cub photo ops. We must be vigilant in educating the public not to patronize these attractions, and in urging the USDA to prohibit all public contact with big cat cubs, regardless of age.
By Wayne Pacelle.
With many thanks to The Humane Society
In recent days, authorities did take action, shutting down the operation and removing 137 live tigers and more than 1,600 illegal items made from tiger parts. Several people were arrested on suspicion of wildlife trafficking. Under the guise of a rescue and conservation organization, the Tiger Temple served as a popular tourist attraction where, for a fee, members of the public were allowed to walk among a collection of chained tigers as well as pet and handle both adult and infant tigers.
It was especially bizarre that monks could run such an operation, but was this case just a very strange “one-off”? Unfortunately not. Here in the United States, we too have had a sort of tiger mania, and it’s been something of a regulatory free-for-all.
As far back as 2003, The HSUS worked with the California Fish and Game Commission to help rescue 54 severely neglected and malnourished big cats from a property. More than 90 tigers were also found dead and the owner was convicted on 56 counts, including 14 felonies.
In October 2011, a deranged owner of exotic animals released 50 of them into the community – including 18 tigers – in Zanesville, Ohio. The man, who had just been released from prison, took his own life after throwing open the gates of his private menagerie, putting the animals and people at risk. Sheriff’s deputies felt they had no choice and shot the animals roaming in a populated community, in a grisly scene that few of us will ever forget.
The U.S. tiger breeding industry exists solely to offer the public an opportunity to pet, hold, feed, play with, and even swim with tiger cubs. In our undercover investigations of two of these operations in 2014, we discovered shocking abuses.
The cubs were punched, slapped, dragged, and choked. The cubs at Natural Bridge Zoo in Virginia were never seen by a veterinarian despite the fact that they had bloody diarrhea from a parasitic infection. Cubs at Tiger Safari in Oklahoma suffered from ringworm but were still handled by hundreds of people. One of the most troubling things we learned from these investigations is that excessive hunger was used to control the cubs during photo ops with the public and they were also fed a nutritionally deficient diet.
Tiger cubs are typically discarded once they grow too large for public contact. Some are warehoused in small cages, sold to circuses, or used to breed more tigers for public handling. Some die prematurely, such as Maximus and Sarabi, the two cubs used for public handling during our investigation at Tiger Safari.
Both died before their second birthdays. Discarded cubs may end up in the pet trade. Last September, an abandoned, declawed tiger cub was found wandering through a neighborhood in California. And last April, a pet tiger cub escaped and was discovered hiding in some bushes in a Texas neighborhood.
Two federal agencies have recently taken steps to crack down on these cottage tiger-abuse industries. Under the Endangered Species Act, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service issued a final regulation closing a regulatory loophole that exempted generic (mixed-breed) tigers from oversight. Generic tigers are no longer exempt from permitting requirements and as a result, it will be much harder for roadside zoos and breeders to engage in commercial activities with captive tigers. In response to a legal petition drafted by The HSUS, the USDA issued guidance to make clear that allowing the public to handle tiger cubs four weeks of age or younger violates the Animal Welfare Act because these vulnerable infants are unable to regulate their body temperature and they lack a fully functioning immune system to fight off disease and infection.
To its credit, one roadside zoo in Alabama announced it was discontinuing tiger cub photo ops as a result of the USDA’s action.
These regulatory actions may reduce the U.S. tiger trade, but more work needs to be done to put a stop to it. A number of facilities continue to offer tiger and lion cub photo ops. We must be vigilant in educating the public not to patronize these attractions, and in urging the USDA to prohibit all public contact with big cat cubs, regardless of age.
By Wayne Pacelle.
With many thanks to The Humane Society
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