Fiona Patchett Bsc worked at the Tiger Temple from between June 2005 to August 2006, employed as the temple's Foreign Manager. This is the introduction to her full shocking report, detailing her stay and her findings. Please use the menu to the left to navigate through each of the reports sections.

INTRODUCTION

"Wat Pa Laungta Bua Yannasampanno Forest Monastery. Internationally known as the Tiger Temple in Kanchanaburi, Thailand.

After seeing the Tiger Temple on the television in New Zealand, I was
compelled to volunteer there. Consequently, I packed my bags, flew to
Thailand in June 2005 and planned to stay at the temple as a volunteer for 12 months. I wanted to get hands on experience with tigers to compliment my Bachelor of Science.

When I arrived at the temple everything seemed idyllic and I was quickly thrown in with the tigers as the handler of a 6 month old female cub. This cub, I was told had only been at the temple for one month and had come from Laos in a breeding exchange. I saw nothing odd about this as New Zealand zoos frequently swap tigers for gene diversity or because the resident tigers are related and they don’t want them to breed.

It wasn’t until I had been at the temple for awhile and was trusted, that things started to become clearer. Veterinarian care was not up to scratch, animals were treated harshly and some were never released from their cages. The “New Home” project was slow and then petered to a stop. Finally the beatings started. I could no longer justify my presence at the temple as having a positive effect for the animals and I could no longer watch the blatant abuse to all the animals. I left in August 2006 and began contacting welfare organisations to report what I had seen at the temple.

This report will cover the recommended animal husbandry practises around the world and compare these with the practises at the Tiger Temple, Thailand. I will cover the areas of; how the animals came to the temple, cage requirements, diet requirements, medical management, behaviour, enrichment, re-wilding the tigers, staff, money, photo sessions, new enclosures, construction, abuse and illegal trade.

The aim of this report is to provide an overview of legal and ethical requirements in animal husbandry, trade and handling and will give recommendations of good practises and show the low standards of knowledge in husbandry practices and care of the animals at the Tiger Temple, Thailand."