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Published: December 2nd 2006
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Tiger Temple
This tiger was not chained up!!! We arrived in Bangkok late and caught up with Maz for a late meal and then hit bed. Woke up nice and early and commenced what would become a very common occurence over the next few days - shopping!!!! Over the first few days we went to all of the usual places - MBK, Khao San Road, Patpong and various other markets. As I was heading over to the UK I simply sat back and watched the girls shop, shop and do some more shopping. I would be lying if I said I wasn't a little envious but it really was pointless buying too much as I already had a heap of luggage that I wasn't sure I was going to get on the plane without being hit up with excess baggage charges.
Lynette, Maz and I booked ourselves a day tour to Kanchanaburi province which involved a trip to the bridge over river kwai, the allied war cemeteries, jeath war museum, a train ride around hell fire pass, lunch on a floating restaurant, a stop off at some waterfalls and then the much anticipated event for myself, a visit to the tiger temple. The tiger temple is absolutely amazing.
The history behind the temple is that it (Wat Pa Luangta Bua Yannasampanno Forest Monastery) was established in 1994. Since its opening it gained a reputation as a wildlife sanctuary. It started with an injured wild fowl given to the monk by the villagers, then peacocks came attracted by the calls of the by then rather large colony of wild fowl. An injured wild boar came in to the monastery and the monks cared for him until he could be released back into the forest. The next day he came back followed by his family group of about 10 animals. There are now hundreds of pigs running around the monastery. Villagers also started to bring in unwanted pets: four species of deer moved in, followed by buffalo, cow, horses, wild goat and gibbons. All these animals are roaming the grounds of the monastery freely, no cages or gates keeping them in (in fact, they can leave at any stage that they want to but apparently rarely do) and they obviously mate freely as there are now hundreds of each of these animals wondering around.
The first tiger cub arrived to the monastery in February 1999. It was a
female cub and apparently her condition was very poor. When she was only a few months old her mother was killed by poachers and the cub was sold so that she could be stuffed. A local was hired to do the job and although he injected her in the neck with the preservative formula the cub survived. Apparently when she arrived she was in a very bad shape, her vision was impaired and her teeth were worn, particularly the fangs, which appeared as if they have been filed down to the gum. Eating was a difficult task for her - she could hardly move her tongue, chew and swallow her food. Inspite of her condition she never once attacked anyone. Under the care of the monks the cub recovered, but in July 1999 she fell seriously ill with heart palpitations and died.
Just a few weeks after the first cub had died two other male cubs, intercepted from the poachers, were brought to the monastery. They were just a week old. A few months later the local villagers presented another two male cubs. And soon after the border police patrol intercepted cubs held by poachers and contributed four female
cubs. And so the monks ended up looking after the orphaned cubs. None of them had any training in how to handle tigers.
There are now 17 tigers at the temple. Seven were orphans rescued from the wild and ten have been breed and born at the temple. All have been raised by the monks which is apparently why they don't attack humans (as they were raised from a young age by humans). They are apparently not drugged in any way, which I do believe as when we were there if any of them had had enough they would growl and get quite angry so the handlers wouldn't let anyone near them until they had calmed down again.
Some of the tigers were chained up but a couple of them weren't. I got my photo taken with a couple of those that weren't chained up and I would be lying if I said I wasn't a little nervous. They are such large and powerful animals and it was a truly amazing experience to be able to get so close and to touch them. At about 4pm they walked the tigers back up to the cages (yes, the tigers
are kept locked up)!!! I was very fortunate to be able to walk up with the tiger and the monk (as per the picture). Once again, this was quite scary given that the monk was using a walking stick and the tiger could have taken off at any time it pleased. This is by far one of the highlights of my trip.
On Lesley's last night in Bangkok we went up to the Vertigo Bar at the Banyan Tree for a cocktail. This was really good and I would recommend it to anyone going to Bangkok (in fact, I would have loved to have had dinner up there). The views of the city at sunset are amazing and it truly shows you just how big Bangkok is.
Next stop Koh Samet!!
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Carol Kleidon
non-member comment
In awe
I can't believe those tigers! That would have been such an experience. I am truely amazed!