Lions and Tigers and a Bear named Maam Maam

Asia » Thailand » Western Thailand » Kanchanaburi
October 6th 2008

Published: October 25th 2008

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pohl position

Welcome to Tiger Temple

If you see this sign, then you have arrived to the right place.

I arrived at the Tiger Temple just as the day's activities had ended. The temple is located in Kanchanaburi province, which is about 2.5 hours west of Bangkok near the Burma (Myanmar) border. The local bus I had taken from Kanchanaburi had dropped me off along the highway and I was about halfway into the two kilometer walk to the temple entrance when one of the staff members spotted me and gave me a lift in his pickup truck.

The volunteers were all tucking into their dinner when I arrived and I quickly made introductions. Robyn, whom I had first spoken to about the volunteer position, was there. She is an environmental law student from California who came to the temple after doing some coursework in Shanghai. She liked it so much that she is postponing a semester so that she can stay longer. She has already been at the temple for about 4 months.

Sitting next to her was Ollie. Ollie is from the UK and had been at the temple for a few months. He was due to be on a flight to Australia in two days and was seriously considering extending his stay. The PAD had

First Cub

This was the first cub I held. He is one of the six-week olds.

just taken over a few smaller airports in Thailand which had prevented regular air travel and I think he was hoping for a similar intervention with Bangkok's main airport to give him an excuse to stay. The minimum time commitment for volunteers at the temple is one month, but the place can become addicting. There is no aphrodisiac like playing with young tiger cubs. The PAD relinquished their control on Thailand's travel infrastructure within a few days and unfortunately Ollie left two days after I met him.

Two other volunteers were starting with me on that day and had already arrived. Tamika, or Tam as she likes to be called, had just arrived from Brisbane, Australia. She was working towards finishing off her degree in animal science and hoped to one day be a tiger handler back in Oz. There are only so many tigers in Australia, so competition is pretty fierce. Brisbane has several tigers in both the Dreamworld park and at Steve Irwin's Australian Zoo. At Dreamworld, prospective candidates must spend the first 2 years just studying tigers without ever getting to even touch one! The experience that Tam will get at Tiger Temple is hands on

First Day

Here is Tam and Rob on our first day, and Olie on his last day in the sala.

and much more valuable to her than any coursework could ever be.

Rob was the other new volunteer. He was originally from the Isle of White off the southern coast of England. He had spent many years helping to raise race horses in England. He even had some success himself as a show jumper. Obviously, he knew how to handle himself around large animals. He had just left Britain on his own world tour about a month before but, like Tam, had his volunteer position lined up at the temple before he left.

I was starting to realize just how lucky I was to be volunteering at the temple. After I had first spoken to Robyn, she directed me to fill in a volunteer application form on the Tiger Temple website. I included my resume (CV) as requested, but I doubt that my 9 years of computer experience impressed anyone. Question after question on the website was about my previous experience working with animals. I had zero qualifications! I didn't even have a dog when I was growing up😞 I was probably more qualified to be the vice president of the US than I was to work with tigers. I

Who Are You?

I had to get aquainted with the tigers on the first day, just like this six week old cub.

knew this of course, but I kinda thought that if someone did have experience with tigers, then he or she would probably be getting paid to do it somewhere in the world already and would not care for a volunteer position. So I figured I would probably be at the same level as any volunteer. Besides, my consulting background has made me a quick learner. I did have a few things working to my advantage. One was that September is a notoriously difficult month to secure and retain volunteers. This is due to the fact that many are of university age and must return home to begin a new semester. The temple was short of volunteers because of this. Two, the person who usually deals with volunteer applications was on holiday when I submitted mine. In fact, a few days after I had started I got an email from her denying my application. She obviously hadn't matched up my application to my face, since I had already met her by then. So I just continued as if nothing happened. I was lucky to get in, but my usual attitude to new challenges is, "How hard could it really be?"

Rob's new friend

Here is Rob with a six-week old cub.

The last volunteer I met was also the leader of the program. In his previous life, Tim had been a detective on the Sydney police force and had served in the mounted police division down under as well. He had some great cop stories to tell and confirmed my suspicions that there is more truth in the "Super Troopers" movie than meets the eye. He still has a cattle farm back in Oz, but prefers to herd cats in Thailand instead. Originally, he was going to stop over in Thailand while he waited for a work visa to process for the UK, but has since fallen in love with the place and plans to stay for years. In his younger days, he did a bit of bull riding, so working with tigers doesn't seem to phase him too much.

Tim showed me to where I would be sleeping for the next month. It was just a tiled room with nothing in it. It exceeded my expectations though. After reading the web site, I was expecting to be sleeping in a bamboo hut. Luckily, Robyn had notified me before that I should bring a sleeping mat, so I was all

Tiger Tam

I couldn't get either of them to face the camera:)

ready to camp out.

After I had dropped my bag in my new room, I got the chance to meet Rod. Rod is originally from Canada and runs the morning exercise program for the tigers as well as serving in various roles for the temple. His grasp of the Thai language helps things to run smoothly. He first came to the temple years ago in what he might describe as something akin to divine intervention. He left for a while, but the magic of the place must have been too much to resist. Rod is a unique character with some interesting stories, but my bullshit-o-meter was getting readings I had not seen since I worked with a guy named Dovas, so it was difficult to sift through the nuggets of truth.

Tim had been at the temple long enough to acquire enough scooters to run his own rental company. Tam, Rob, and I rented what he had for a month so that we could get around easier. Looks like my scooter driving skills were going to come in handy yet again. For our first night at the temple, we went to visit what would become our home away

Getting Acquainted

Here's me with one of the 8 month old cubs.

from the temple, Thai Wisdom.

Thai Wisdom was only a few kilometers down the road and it is where we would head everyday for lunch and sometimes after work. In addition to a restaurant by the side of the highway, it is a shop for selling herbal teas and body treatments made by local people. It is owned by the temple's veterinarian, Dr. Somcahai, and gives us someplace to wash our laundry and watch a DVD.

Dr. Somchai has been the vet at the temple since before there were tigers there. In addition to working on the animals, he sometimes patches up the volunteers too. I would have to stretch my mind a bit to think if I have ever met a more happier man. He has a constant smile on his face and a laugh that can only be described as infectious. He speaks English well and was one of the few Thai people there that I could hold a conversation with. He is very informed on what is happening with the PAD protests and helped me to understand exactly what was going on. He's got a pretty good sense of humor and his suggestion for resolving

Just Happy to be here

This is Happy, one of the 6 month old cubs. He's waiting in the Sala for his bottle.

the impasse was to get Rambo to sort out Parliament. Probably the best suggestion I have heard yet. He also teaches meditation classes and tried to explain to me the Eastern way of thinking, but I don't think I came close to grasping it. Some of his advice was dispensed in such a way that you might think it was Bruce Lee talking if you closed your eyes. He would often say, "You must be like Samuri when you work with tigers!" One night, we watched "Kung Fu Panda". He was was pleased with the eastern message that was delivered with the dragon scroll. From then on, it was "You must be like Panda!"

That first night in Thai Wisdom, Tim gave us the run down of what we would be doing as volunteers. The temple is open 7 days a week and the routine does not change, although some responsibilities are rotated. The mornings involve feeding and exercising cubs with a small number of tourists. The afternoons are more about controlling the crowds of tourists rather than the tigers. Each volunteer worked 6 days and got the 7th day off.

He also gave us some helpful precautions

Tigger Meets Tiger

Here is Payu showing Tigger who is boss.

for living on the temple grounds. A flashlight (torch) was a necessity at night as we would not be able to find our way back to our rooms otherwise. We also needed to watch out for snakes, scorpions, and centipedes which could bite us and potentially prove fatal. And then there's the tigers we needed to watch out for! Tim showed us a video of how he manged to catch a king cobra snake that had decided to take up residence in the girls' bathroom only one week before.

Ollie and Robyn tried to teach us how to communicate with the tigers. The tigers can be pretty friendly for the most part. When they are glad to see someone, they will chuff at that person. A chuff is a brief flutter of noise from deep in the tiger's lungs which is combined with a rhythmic exhale through their nose. Imagine briefly rolling your tongue, but with the noise escaping from your nose. Ollie and Robyn gave us their impression of it and we started to work out how ours would sound. The tigers do not purr like house cats. It is a pretty special feeling when you chuff at

Sydern

You can tell Sydern from the others by the dent on her nose.

a tiger and he or she chuffs back. That means the tiger likes you and may even start to lick you. A tiger's tongue is rough like sandpaper, and only gets rougher with age. I learned early on to closely watch the licking, because a few licks quickly morphs into an affectionate nibble. As well as chuffing, tiger cubs can produce a high pitched whine. they are capable of snarling, growling, and barking, but only if they are annoyed or maybe protecting a favorite toy.

The next morning was my first day and I was about to begin my on-the-job training with tigers. We started each day at 7:15am. One of the volunteers makes the bottles for the cubs, another carries the cubs' toys to the sala, and everyone helps to walk the cubs to the sala. The word "temple" seems to encompass all of the sanctuary grounds. The "sala" is the building itself that is used for meditation and ceremony. By Buddhist custom, this must be the highest structure on the temple grounds. In this respect, it mimics the position of a temple in Hindu culture. The formula that we feed the cubs is nothing exotic. It is

Are You Talking to Me?

This six-week old cub shows me he's not afraid of anyone.

a mixture of dog and cat formula. It smells like biscuit mix and tastes sweet.

The cubs that I would be walking to the sala are a litter of four cubs who were three months old when I first started. They could be stubborn at times and sometimes needed to be carried, but after a month they were beginning to be too heavy. I reckon that at the end of my time there, they were somewhere between 50 and 60 pounds each. They really do grow up too quickly. Because of this, it is very important to train them how to be walked with a collar and lead. Tim gave us some basic instructions. "Never pull the lead on a cub. Instead, pretend to be a tree and let the tiger pull against you if it is moving in the wrong direction." If the tiger is moving in the right direction, then we were to give it slack in the lead to encourage it. If the cub started to run, then we ran with them. When my tiger would start to tray off the path, then I would redirect him by nudging a shoulder or redirecting his head. Generally,

Tiger Walk

It's kinda like walking a big dog, only with bigger teeth.

if a tiger looks in the direction that you want him to go, then something will catch his eye. Most of the walking involves stubborn refusals to move in the right direction followed by stalking, running, and playful pouncing on siblings. When my tiger would stop to lay down, I could get him moving by picking up his butt by his tail. It's pretty effective and doesn't hurt the tiger at all. As they get older, the tail gets thicker and when they are fully grown, it is difficult for me to fit my entire hand around the circumference. Usually in the morning, at some point between their cages and the sala, the cubs will stop to have a comfort break. I can assure you that the formula doesn't smell nearly as sweet on the way out as it does on the way in. The cubs will rarely poo in their own cage.

The cubs will sometimes try to pounce on me, but they are fairly predictable and just being playful. I would put the palm of my hand on a cub's nose when he pounced, and then I would have control of his head, and therefore him. In

Exercise in the Canyon

Here is a shot from on top of the canyon wall.

this scenario, the cub can not bite me and I can guide his head in the direction I want. He will probably wrap his paws around my arm, but the older they get, the less likely they are to get their claws out. It is the bites that I found myself watching out for the most. If one of the tigers was to latch on, then a pinch on the nose or at the back of the gums usually gets them to release. Afterwards, we are to swat them on the nose with two fingers to teach them not to bite people. The last 10 meters of the walk are the hardest. There is a small moat, about one foot across, that the tigers must cross to get to the sala stairs. Sometimes they make it, sometimes they get wet, and sometimes they need to be carried across. Once at the stairs, I need to take off my shoes while fending off my cub, and maybe others, from jumping on me.

I'm not always the best at remembering names and faces of humans, so I knew I was going to have issues with the tigers. I don't want to

Goodbye Mr. Spalding!

The temple goes through 1,000 basketballs a year!

sound racist, but they do all kinda look the same. By the end of the month, I had started to be able to differentiate between all of the 3 and 6 month old cubs as these were the ones I was around the most. The litter of 3 month olds consisted of one male, Payu, and three females: Sydern, Syquan, and Sydow. Payu was easy. In addition to being the only male, he has the lightest color fur of the four. Sydern has a dent on her nose. Sydow has a black dot on each rear paw. Syquan's tail just barely ends in a white stripe and she has the most reddish fur. Happy and Lucky are the names of the two 6 month old cubs. Lucky has a few more stripes on his shoulders where Happy does not. Happy is more likely to chuff at me, while Lucky is more likely to jump on me. All of the tigers develop their own personality. Of all the 3 month olds, Payu is everyone's favorite. He is a teddy bear and the biggest chuffer of the litter. Although he is the only male, he is also the biggest whinner and tends

Playtime!

We put some basketballs and foot(soccer)balls in this burlap sack and let the tigers rip it open.

to get beat up by his sisters a lot. I've had to break up a few fights where Payu is getting his ear pulled from one direction and his tail from the other. Instead of growling or fighting back, he just whines for them to stop. His is especially whiny in the morning when he wants his bottle. He makes up for it by being the most lovable though. A few chuffs and a few strokes of his nose and he'll be your best friend.

During the first week, the 8 month old cubs (another litter of 4) would join us in the sala for breakfast, but they would stop coming to make room on the sides for the 3 month olds. Once the 3, 6, and 8 month old cubs had been led up the sala stairs and secured to posts, it was time for one more litter to be brought up. The volunteers and any morning guests would sit in a circle on the wooden sala floor. In the middle would be a blanket and some baby chew toys. Soon enough, the Thai staff would bring up a litter of four cubs who were only six weeks

Get Your Paws Up

Here are a couple of tigers getting rowdy with each other during exercise time.

old. All together, there were 14 cubs in the sala with us in the mornings.

The six week old cubs were very tiny and still trying to find their feet. Sometimes, they would try and run, but when their front paws hit the blanket on the floor, they would lose balance and slide all over the place. The mornings were the only time I had with them. The rest of the day, they would be in a cage with their mom. Sometimes, the cubs would climb into my lap and have a snooze, but mostly they would roam within our circle of people and try to find weak points to escape. It was up to us to prevent them from leaving the circle, and then chasing them down if they did.

After all of the tiger cubs, guests, volunteers, and staff have settled in, the Abot and monks take their places at the front of the sala. They sit on a raised wooden platform with a golden Buddha behind the Abbot. The monks sit at a perpendicular angle to the Abbot's left side. They sit in order of seniority with the novice monk furthest away. The temple has

Redcard!

I don't think the tiger could get away with that in the Premier League.

one Abbot, four monks, and one novice who is only 13 years old.

The official Buddhist name of the Tiger Temple is Wat Pa Luangta Bua Yannasampanna. It was named after the Abbot's teacher, Venerable Luangta Maha Bua Yannasampanna. He is one of the most respected monks in Thailand and is renown for his ability to transcend the different levels of meditation. Every morning, his morning prayer is broadcast across Thailand on television. A plasma television screen has been placed next to the golden Buddha so that this event can be shared every morning.

The Abbot, whose name is Phra Acharm Phusit (Chan) Kathitaro, established the wat in 1994. The temple quickly gained a reputation as an animal sanctuary. The first tiger cub arrived in 1999. She was only a few months old and had been owned by a wealthy Bangkok resident who ordered her stuffed. Although she was injected with preservative formalin, she survived and someone brought her to the temple. She recovered, but five months later she fell ill and died. A few weeks later, more cubs were brought in by police who intercepted them from poachers. Villagers brought more cubs a few months later. All

Just a walk in the park

Here is Tam trying to walk Happy back to his cage as he says hello to a friend.

together, the temple has 9 rescue cubs; all of which are fully grown now.

The temple is near the Burma (Myanmar) border where poaching is still a problem. Typically, what happens is that a poacher will kill a female tiger in the wild and leave the cubs to fend for themselves. Although trading in tiger parts is illegal, a poacher can earn up to $6,000 USD for a fully grown tiger. This is several years salary for a farmer. The cubs are worthless to poachers and are usually left behind. Demand for tiger parts is fueled by Chinese medicine. A tiger penis alone can fetch up to $800 USD. Villagers who hear these orphaned cubs crying out for their mother will collect them and bring them to the temple. The monks became the cubs' parents and raised them as their own.

Breakfast begins at around 8am. The Abbot and monks choose their food and then the Abbot leads the morning blessing. During this time, I would face the Abbot, be silent, and press my hands together. There are a few important rules to remember in any temple or sala. Never turn your back to Buddha or the Abbot,

I once caught a tiger THIS big

Here I am with one of the bigger boys who is about to be led down to the canyon for his exercise.

and never point your feet towards Buddha. There are many different rules when interacting with monks, more so even for women. All monks, and especially the Abbot, deserve and receive a great deal of respect. Because I am still quite ignorant of all these rules, I was concerned that I might do something to offend the monks and ended up keeping my distance from them at the beginning. Only the Abbot can speak English among them. I thanked him on my final day and he was very pleasant. He even extended his hand for a hand shake, which I didn't expect and then he asked me to return someday.

After the Abbot and monks tuck into their food, the guests, then the volunteers, and finally the staff head to the buffet to choose their breakfast. The food on offer usually consists of a great deal of rice and many small plastic bags full of who knows what. It could be vegetables or it could be pig intestines. It could be mild, or it could make me breath fire. As I ate while sitting on the sala floor, I would try and contain the 6 week old cubs with the

The Pool is Open

It's exercise time for the 3 months and 6 week old cubs. They are probably nearly 4 months and over 2 months old in this picture.

others.

Once the people have been fed, it is the cubs' turn. The 8, 6, and 3 month old cubs each get a bottle of formula. If we have any guests, then we teach them how to feed them. It's not difficult. Just present the bottle and the cub will latch onto it. I made sure to keep the bottle upright so that the cub didn't swallow any air. I did hear Payu burp after one bottle, which was pretty funny. Next up is walking the 3 month old cubs back. If we had any guests, we would instruct them on what to do and be ready for any playful biting that might occur. Once the guests have mastered those cubs, we would graduate them to a 6 or 8 month old. These tigers would have 2 leads attached to them so that a staff member was one one side and the tourist is not completely on their own. These tigers are walked from the middle of the temple's grounds down to the canyon for exercise.

Tim would lay down the ground rules before the tourists were given a tiger. "Never breach the tiger's front shoulder when walking

Catch a tiger by its toe

Here is Tam and Jan trying to contain the cubs during their exercise time. If one of the 3 month olds escapes, it can be a pretty good chase.

him, or you will come into the tiger's field of vision." "To guide your tiger, you can direct him with your knee to his shoulder." The two worst things a person could do around a tiger is 1) turn their back on him and 2) run away. If either one is done, then that person is almost certainly inviting the tiger to "play". If a tiger does latch on, the best thing to do is stay still or even push into the bite. Pulling away will cause a serious flesh wound, but staying still will result in puncture wounds in the worst case scenario. At 8 months old, the tiger cubs are probably around 120 pounds, but they still have the mentality of a playful cub. As the tigers get older and bigger, they actually get more "tame." I should point out that there has never been a serious incident with the tigers thus far at the temple.

The canyon is really a quarry. At the bottom of it is a shallow pool where we allow the tigers to play in the morning. In the afternoon, this is where the bigger tigers sleep and have their pictures taken with

Super One

Super One doesn't really like people. No one can go in the cage with her, or she would probably kill them. I usually sing the "Super Frank Lampard" cheer to her, but I supstitute "Super One Leopard" instead.

tourists. When we get down to the bottom, Rod lays out the rules for the guests. He draws 2 circles in the dirt, each near to one of the canyon's walls about a meter away from the water. "This is the circle of life. If you stay inside, we can guarantee your life." There are no barriers between the people and the tigers. There are plenty of tiger handlers and volunteers in place to make it safe. If one or more tigers gets out of the water, it is our job to grab them and get them back into the water. If a tiger looks like it is going towards the guests, it is our job to get in between them and handle the tiger. All of the tigers have a collar, which is a chain encased in rubber tubing. If I can grab that collar behind a tiger's head, then I have all of the control I need.

The tigers are not intent on causing any malicious harm to each other or the people. They just want to play. This is definatly not the place to turn your back on them or they will take advantage of it.

Crouching Tigers

Here are the bigger tigers getting ready for their afternoon naps and photo session. The Abbot typically walks down with the last tiger and oversees the whole opperation as tourists are led around and have their photos taken.

Fortunately, the tigers are pretty predictable. They tend to stare something down and slowly stalk it before pouncing, so I managed to learn what they were thinking before they did it. Once the tigers are in the water, Rod or Tim will throw either a basketball or soccer (foot)ball in the water. He will bounce it on the ground a few time to gt the tigers' attention, and after they start to advance, he will throw it away at the last possible moment. The tigers' eyes are fixated on the ball and not the person. They all battle for the ball immediately after it hits the water. The rest of playtime is consumed by the tigers stalking and pouncing on each other. It is an awesome spectacle to behold, especially when you are close enough to get splashed by them.

After the 6 and 8 month old tigers have had their exercise and are walked back to their cages, the next group of tigers, who are up to a year and a half old are walked down to the canyon for their exercise routine. They are much bigger and make a much bigger splash. The staff handle these tigers

Tiger Girls

Here are some of the staff members who help to lead tourists around and take their pictures. They were good fun to work with. All the staff members wear bright colored uniforms while we prevent tourists from entering the temple wearing bright colors. This makes the staff stand out from the tourists should a tiger get out of control.

exclusively. I was forced to become a spectator with the other guests rather than helping to chase down tigers who escape from the water. The biggest tiger of the group, Han, got considerable pleasure out of standing in the middle of the water on a big rock and then bolting down from it and out into the canyon. The staff would just make a hole for him as it would be futile to try and intercept him. After he ran for maybe 10 meters, he would turn around to look at us as if he was silently laughing. It would only take a gentle nudge to get him back in the water. He had made his point.

Once the big tigers have been exercised, it was time for the younger cubs. We would generally just let them run around and make sure they didn't get too far away. These cubs were fun to play with. I would often squat down and turn my back on them. They would instantly start stalking and when they went to pounce, I would quickly turn around and stand up. The cub would be leaping through the air with his mouth open, which was

Chilling with Tigers

Here is another tiger snoozing away in the canyon during the afternoon.

the perfect position for me to put the palm of my hand on his or her nose. It is a lot of fun with the cubs, but not something that should be attempted with the bigger tigers.

There were a few small pools underneath one of the man made waterfalls that we would exercise the cubs in. They love to jump around in the water and pounce on each other. We would get in the water with them and encourage the guests to do so as well. After a while, the cubs start to get pretty playful. I would be on guard to intercept any cubs from biting the guests. One cub would usually try to pounce on someone while one or two others would wait for the person to be distracted by the first one. They were just playing though and it was all good fun.

One of the pools is about waist deep, so the cubs can not feel the bottom and must swim. We started to put the 3 month olds in there to see if they could swim. Sydern was a natural and could swim fairly fast. She would chase me down as I

The Doctor is in

Here is Dr. Somchai and me. He made me laugh almost everyday.

jogged backwards in the water. Once she was within striking distance, she would try and pounce, but I was always quicker. The other cubs in the litter needed a bit more coaxing. I think Payu was terrified. He would just get this petrified look on his face and furiously splash about trying to get back to the edge. Instead of pouncing, he would just cling to me as if I was saving his life. I would grab his front paws and pull him as I walked backwards to try and get him used to the water, but he was always more relieved to be out of the deep end.

At around 11:00am, we would be done with the morning exercise and we would head to Thai Wisdom for our lunch hour. At noon, we would head back for the second and most difficult part of the day, taming the tourists. The temple has only had tigers for the past 9 years, but it is now an established member of the Thailand Tourist Trail. Many people know about it from the various interviews that the Abbott has given to reporters from around the world. Combine this with entrepreneurial Thai tour

Headstrong

Here is Naan and me with one of the tigers. The head is pretty heavy.

guides and the result is hundreds of tourists every afternoon; even in the low season.

The benefits of all these tourists is that the money given by them is used to feed the tigers and build their new home. Each day the temple goes through 150 kilograms of meat alone. The temple has in some ways become a victim of its own success, which has given way to much more organization. In some ways, this makes it a much less intimate experience than it was 7 or 9 years ago when there were maybe only 30 people arriving each day. Thankfully, the morning program exists for those who are serious about tigers and crave a more intimate experience.

The temple opens to the public at noon. Once the hoards make their way to the middle of the grounds, they are treated with a sight of about 20 tigers of all different ages just chilling out on the ground. The bigger tigers are chained to the ground or trees while the young cubs are on leads and are being walked around by either the monks or the staff. The cubs are a bit more active, but the bigger ones

Tuckered Out

I love this photo. This is Syquan right after she's drank a bottle of formula. She found the most comfortable position to have a snooze. Looks like me after Thanksgiving Dinner.

just lay about. Tiger handlers are there to direct people to approach them from behind and to make sure that people keep their distance. You can get close to them and pet them, as long as you approach them from behind. A lot of the Thai men on the staff used to be monks at the temple and have been with the tigers since they were very young. In general, the Thai staff are a fun bunch to work with. They are always smiling and laughing. It was not uncommon to feel a squeeze on the back of my leg while I was there. My first instinct is that it is a tiger biting me, but after quickly turning around, I discovered that it was one of the guys just using his hand to play a practical joke. This seems to be a bit of an initiation routine for the new volunteers. Of course I would try this on some unsuspecting tourists every now and again. Works like a charm every time.

Most of the Thai staff do not speak much English, which is why the volunteers are valuable. At about 12:45, we would start rounding up all of

Proud Mamma

This is the mom of the 6 week old cubs. She was a rescue cub and you can see where the poachers did something to her nose as it is now misshapen. I'd chuff at her when I walked past her cage and she would frequently come up, put her paws on the cage and chuff back at me while she rubbed her nose against the cage and my hand on the other side.

the tourists and have them wait in a gated area while we prepared to walk the bigger tigers to the canyon. The volunteers would make all of the announcements in English. All except 3 of the tigers would be walked away and one of us would inform the crowd on the rules of walking with a tiger.

We would break up the tourists into 3 groups, one for each tiger, and allow them to walk one-by-one, alongside the tiger while a member of staff took their picture. These tigers are fully grown male tigers, and very tame. After passing a tree, the tiger would usually mark his territory. We warned the tourists that when they see the tail go up to just "close your mouth and enjoy the experience." Running and screaming are to be avoided. The good news is that it is considered good luck to be sprayed by a tiger. Almost every day, some tourist would get showered and it never got old.

Once down in the canyon, the tigers would take their usual spots and settle in for their afternoon nap. Initially, the handlers would chain them to the ground, but once they fell asleep,

Meow Mix, Meow Mix, Please Deliver

Here is Pimm feeding the 6 week old cubs. They are starting on solids which is cooked chicken and some Wiskas tuna.

the chain would be unhooked. For the next 2.5 hours, I would either be down in the canyon, in the middle of the grounds with the young cubs, or at the entrance gate selling photos for charity.

In the canyon, I would instruct people on where to queue for photos and inform them of the special photo offer. Tourists could have their photo taken with the different tigers for free. The staff use the tourists' cameras to do so. We also offered a special photo for a donation where we would sit the tourist down next to one of the big tigers and place its head in the tourist's lap.

It is amazing how peacefully the tigers sleep and I would get countless questions everyday as to if the tigers are drugged. Especially from people who arrive in the middle of the afternoon and do not witness the tigers walking. I always explain how the tigers are exercised in the morning, then fed, and how they are nocturnal animals by nature. It is usually very hot in th canyon at mid-day and if these tigers were in the wild, they would be sleeping at that time too. Our

Bird's Eye View

Here are the 6 week old cubs chowing down. All of the tigers are of the Indo-Chinese subspecies and they all have big white dots on the back of their ears. Cool Hand Luke is off in the corner being anti-social.

tigers have all been hand-raised by humans and are very used to being around people. It's funny to see some of the strange positions that the tigers will sleep in. One day, one of the stand-up fans that we have in the canyon fell over and generated a loud noise. Instantly, I saw 12 tiger heads perk up. A silence fell over the crowd and I didn't get any questions about the tigers being drugged for a while after that .

While the big tigers are down in the canyon, the 3 month old cubs are in the middle of the park getting their pictures taken with the tourists. Whenever I was stationed there, I would try and get people into queues and prevent them from getting the cubs riled up. Towards the end of my month, we started bringing the 6 week old cubs out to the public in addition to the 3 month olds. This would have been when they were about 2 months old. At that time, we took them away from their mom and put them in a cage with Tim. He would sleep in the cage with them and feed them every 3 hours.

Eagle Eye

This Crested Serpent Eagle was brought to the temple when he was young. His wing was broken and it has healed in a way that means he will never fly. He chills out in his cage all day and becomes pretty talkative after the sun goes down.

There was a tinge of irony in the fact that Tim was now living behind bars after he had probably put more than a few people in jail back in Sydney. The cubs visited their mom once a day for milk while we were weaning them on to formula.

It was all necessary to get the cubs used to being around people. In the wild, the cubs would stay with their mom for the first 3 years. Tigers are fully grown after about 3 and a half years. This mom had already had several litters at the temple and had no problem with the staff being in the cage with her on the day she gave birth. The first couple of days away from mom were rough and the little ones were pretty feral. After a while though, they seemed to get used to us. All of them except one. He would always be by himself while the other 3 grouped together. He would snarl, bark, and even snap at me when I tried to pick him up. I found that if I just stroked his nose, he would calm down enough so that I could pick him up

Holy Horse!

This horse camped himself outside the girls' bathroom. It looks as if a water buffalo had gored his head. He probably needed that like he needed another hole in his head. It's not just the tigers that need plenty of looking after at the temple.

by the scruff of his neck. However, once I put him down, he would be back onto the offensive, as if he had forgotten who I was. Trying to walk him was a nightmare. He would instantly turn around and pull against the lead while he snarled and barked at me. Just when I thought I had him calmed down, he would always try to make a break for it. I nicknamed him "Cool Hand Luke", because you just can't reach some tigers. He might take a while to come around, but the tigers' personalities do change over time. He used to be one of the gentlest cubs and would fall asleep in my lap at breakfast. One of his siblings might turn out to be the troublemaker in the litter once time passes on and he might calm down. Only time will tell.

When I was stationed with the cubs, I would also direct the tourists to go and wander around Tiger Island. Tiger Island is nearing completion and will be the new home for the temple's tigers. A long row of cages, with enclosures on either side, surrounded by a moat will make up the "island." The

Tug of War

Action photo shot with one of the 3 month old cubs.

cages are complete and the tigers are already living in them. Some of the bigger tigers stay in there rather than going down to the canyon for pictures. This includes Mac, who is the biggest tiger at the temple. He weighs in at 500 pounds and is probably about 9 - 10 feet tall if he stands on his hind legs. He used to go down to the canyon, but one day he decided he had enough and pulled tthe concrete slab out of the ground and headed back towards his cage! This was before I got there. All together, the temple has 30 tigers, plus 4 more who were born days after I left. Tiger Island has plenty of room for growth, which will most certainly be needed. In the wild, tigers can live for between 12 - 15 years, but in captivity they can live as long as 20 - 25 years.

In addition to the tigers, the island is home to 2 lions and an Asiatic Black Bear. The lions were brought to the temple as cubs by the Bangkok police department. They had busted a drug dealer and found the 3 month old cubs in

Up a Tree

Here's one of the staff having a bit of fun with Happy.

his basement. When they were young, the staff would get in the cage with them. However, once they started circling the staff, the decision was made not to get in the cage with them anymore. There is a male and a female. The male's mane is just starting to grow out and he looks like he has some 1970's sideburns at the moment.

Maam Maam is the name of the temple's Asiatic Black Bear. She is only about 4 feet tall and is very friendly. She has a "V" of white fur that shows on her chest which makes it look like she is wearing a V-neck sweater. This species of bear are endangered. The bile in their stomach is sought after for Chinese medicine.

Although Tiger Island will be an impressive achievement in itself, the Abbot's dream is to get these tigers back to the jungle. There are some significant hurdles to accomplishing this and the track record is not encouraging. No tiger has ever been successfully released back into the wild anywhere in the world. Even if they were, the tigers will still be threatened by poachers, farmers, and habitat destruction.

A compromise is to

Tiger Pile On

Here is Tam with her hands full of baby tigers.

have a secure, closed-off area where the tigers can roam around freely without fear of poachers. The government has donated 40,000 acres adjacent to the temple for just such a purpose. The area has started to be walled off, but this will take years at the current rate of progress. Once this has been completed, tigers could be released into it, but first they must be trained to hunt. Typically, cubs learn how to hunt from their mother during their first 3 years. Since all of the tigers at the temple have been raised by humans from a young age, none of them know how to hunt. Teaching a tiger to hunt would need to be done outside of the temple grounds. It is against Buddhist principles to kill any living animal. The 40,000 acres are not considered part of the temple grounds, so the tigers could be free to hunt there. It is an ambitions plan, and once complete, will probably be the safest, most natural environment for tigers anywhere in the world.

At about 3:30, the tigers in the canyon are walked through the park and back to their cages. This means that all of the tourists

Tim Keeps Guard

Here is Tim on the rock keeping order in the canyon.

need to be rounded up and confined in the same area. We also have to herd away all of the random animals that roam the ground to ensure that they do not cross the path of a tiger. The animals are usually the easier of the two to herd.

After the last tiger has been led to his cage, it is feeding time for all of the horses, deer, goats, water buffalo, pigs, cows, chickens, peacocks, and reindeer to be fed. I've even spotted a pair of camels on occasion. All of these animals roam the temple grounds freely. They all know when feeding time is and wait for it. When the time comes, a truck drives down the road and drops all the food on the ground as it rolls by. The tourists are free to mix with the animals and enjoy the experience.

Most tourists leave shortly after that, but the grounds are open for another hour or so. For me, it is time to feed Casy, the leopard cat. I nicknamed her L.C. though, for Leopard Cat. She looks like a leopard, but is only the size of a house cat. The temple also has

Tree Tail

Might want to mind your step when you see a striped tail growing out of a tree.

a regular leopard, whose name is Super One. No one can directly enter the cage with Super One as she would probably kill them. L.C. tends to keep to herself though. She lives in a pretty nice cage in the middle of the park. Even thought she ahas plenty of space to roam around, she spends almost all day in a corner on a shelf, just above the door to the cage. There used to be two leopard cats, but one of them escaped somehow before I got there. It hasn't been seen since and no one seems too concerned about it. L.C. doesn't seem to like me or anyone else. She hisses and shows her teeth if I get too close. I always wondered if she would jump on me when I passed underneath her to enter the cage. Thankfully, she never did.

By about 4:00, my work for the day is done. All the volunteers meet outside the gate where there are some tables and chairs to tuck into our dinner, which one of us gets from Thai Wisdom. After dinner, the Thai guys that live at the Temple would play Sepak Takraw. This game is a

Nosing Around

Payu and me share a moment.

cross between football(soccer) and volleyball. A net is set up and players on either side get 3 chances to send a small ball over the net using anything except their hands and arms. Rob and I played a few times with them. Since Rob grew up in the UK, he had a more natural ability for football and for using his feet than I did. Instead, I just compensated by focusing on my headers. I was much taller than the Thai guys and felt a bit like Peter Crouch.

The temple also conducts meditation training and invites volunteers to join the monks for the evening meditation. I was eager to learn more about it, so at 6pm, I arrived at the sala with Rob on the first day. We wore all white clothes as instructed and basically just tried to mimic what the monks were doing. They would kneel down with their toes planted on the floor and their heels under their butts. Their hands were pressed together in front of their chests and they would occasionally bow their heads to the ground in between chants. I realized pretty soon that I was not going to be able to

Walking Cats

And you thought walking dogs was hard?

hold the sitting position and had to cheat a bit as the sweat poured down my face. Nothing was explained to me, and I didn't know what was going on. It appeared to me to be more of a prayer session rather than meditation. I don't understand the Thai language, so I don't know what the monks were praying for. I was praying for it to be over so I could relieve the pressure on my feet. After that first night, Rob and I followed in a long tradition of volunteers never attending another meditation session.

I left the temple after my volunteer commitment was complete in September, but I returned three weeks later. About 2 days after I left, one of the female tigers had a litter of four tigers. I decided to head back before leaving Thailand so see the newborns as well as my former co-workers. I was also keen to see how much the cubs had grown up. The 6 week-old cubs were now nearly 3 months old. Payu and his sisters were nearly 5 months old and much much bigger now. I would struggle a bit to pick up Payu now. I almost didn't

Double Trouble

Here I am trying to contain 2 of the six-week olds.

recognize him. His light fur coat has turned much darker, but he is still as friendly as ever.

I went back to see the newborn cubs. They are still in their cage with momma, who is quite protective of them. I couldn't get in the cage with them, but I did intend to get as close as possible. There are 2 protective barriers to go through before getting to the actual cage door. As I made my way through the second one, I could see that my chuffing was not having an effect on mom and that she was going to charge me. Although she can not get through the cage bars, her paws and their razor sharp claws can. I managed to snap a photo before she bolted. I ran off to the side just in time to avoid her claws. She didn't growl or bark at me and after a few chuffing sessions, she retired to the back cage and allowed me to take some photographs of the cubs. I had to rely on the zoom capability of my non-professional camera, so the shots are not too good, but I have included one here in the blog.

Very Chuffed

Here I am practicing my chuffing ability with one of the cubs.

The cubs had just opened their eyes about a week before this shot. They can stand up, but struggle to walk more than a few steps.

I must admit that before I started working at the Tiger Temple, I knew relatively little about tigers. I knew that they were endangered, that they think Frosted Flakes (Frosties in the UK) taste grrrrrreeat, and that they haven't won a World Series since 1984. I hadn't realized how close to extinction they actually are. There are only 6 sub-species of tigers left in the world, and one of them, the South China Tiger, hasn't been seen in the wild for nearly 10 years now. All of the tigers at the temple are of the Indo-Chinese sub-species. An international ban on the sale of tiger parts has failed to stop the poaching. Dwindling numbers of tigers make this a worrying problem. Just getting accurate numbers can be difficult. Government figures from some closed countires might be inflated to mask the problem. Thailand has the world's second hightest population of wild tigers at somewhere between 200 - 400 tigers. That would put the temple's tiger population at somewhere between 5% - 10% of Thailand's

Hey Goat!

This is Kiddo the goat. One night, Tim Robyn and I were watching a DVD outside in the fenced off porch area in front of my room. I looked over to my right and Kiddo was standing right next to me just watching us and the movie. She must have been there for a while.

wild tiger population.

The tiger temple has become a great success over the past 9 years and is a model for sustainable development. Although the tigers are not yet free to roam around in wide open spaces, they are very happy. I could see it in their personalities. Some captivity programs need to resort to artificial insemination in order to produce cubs, but the temple has had 25 tiger cubs born by natural methods. If it wasn't for the Abbot and the temple, then these 25 tigers would not exist. Any net new additions to the world's tiger population should be welcomed. Construction is being undertaken all over the temple grounds to create more professional infrastructure. As the sanctuary becomes more tiger and less temple it will be a challenge to ensure that the park doesn't risk becoming like a zoo and instead stays true to it's Buddhist beginings. I would recomend going to see it as soon as possible, and would highly rate the morning experience over the standard afternoon session. Good luck trying to get close to a tiger in a western zoo! There's simply no other place like it in the world.

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