Last post I wrote about elephant and tiger issues here in Thailand and conflicts that can arise as a tourist. I'm sure you are all wondering what we decided to do about tiger kingdom...well we decided to get a ride to Tiger Kingdom and check it out for ourselves because we heard you can sort of see inside without paying. When we got there it was very busy, lots of people everywhere. At first I thought, I was right this isn't good for the tigers but after walking around and taking a closer look I started to feel better about things. The tigers were in no way acting "drugged" like some rumors reported, overall they seemed pretty happy and the trainers seemed to understand the tigers well and they worked together well as a pair. The people get to meet the tigers but there are lots of rules and limits of how many at a time so it is not overly intrusive for the tigers. They also constantly switch out which tigers people are meeting. The tigers have a good size cage (better than most zoos) with big pools to play in, while they do play some, they sleep most of the time....but this is normal for a large cat, I think lions sleep something like 22 hours a day! Not sure about tigers. Anyway, the older tigers do have somewhat small cages but then the rotate which cage they open allowing them into a bigger enclosure. None of the tigers were pacing or seemed like they felt too confined. While overall I still don't think the situation is ideal, I think it is a good way to protect the species FOR NOW until a larger area can be established for the tigers...which is what Tiger Kingdom has said their ultimate goal is. While these tigers may not have all of the freedoms of the wild, they are given lots of food, playtime, love, water and most of all safety from those who poach them in the wild. Steve decided he wanted to see the big, small and smallest tigers while I opted for the smallest. I was still scared of getting that close to a big tiger but after seeing him do it...I kind of wish I had. The tigers were beautiful and amazing creatures...it was so fun to see them interact and learn about their behavior! It was such a great experience and I have so much appreciation from them. Steve used the photographer for his big and small encounters since I wasn't allowed in and then we took pictures of each other with the smallest tigers. We also got to see a few new born tigers...including new born white tigers! We also saw a full grown white tiger with beautiful blue eyes...it was amazing. If I could have had a picture with him I would have. It was fun to see him interact with his trainer, he was very playful and acted so much like a pet cat. Here are a bunch of our pictures from Tiger Kingdom....we don't have a CD drive with us so we can't see Steve's professional photos yet but I will post those in December when we get home :)
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Here we are in Chiang Mai, Thailand and the only thing I want to do is meet an elephant and play with baby tigers. Everyone here does that...it's part of the experience! So I start some online research about where to go and I got way more information than I bargained for. I started to come across one big question: IS IT ETHICAL? So here I am with all of my information, arguments for both sides & no direct evidence of "maltreatment"...but I have to ask myself, is it more important for me to meet an elephant (it's my dream...) or to protect the elephants and not be one of those tourists who provides income for these places. There is ONE place here in Thailand that seems to get a good rapport for taking care of their elephants appropriately....Elephant Nature Park, but it being low season we didn't think we needed to book anything ahead of time and they are completely booked. So my only chance of seeing or meeting an elephant would be going to a place that allows riding, potentially uses bull hooks and puts on shows with elephants....all of the signs to stay away if you care about elephants well-being. Welp. These elephants are potentially treated poorly and are used solely for money...they all had to go through an extremely rough training as babies in order to not be "wild" anymore...you can look that up online if you want more details but its terrible. So in conclusion, I will not be fulfilling my dream of meeting elephants in Thailand...but I will be supporting these elephants and attempting to be one the tourists who can make a difference for future elephants by not going to these places when I truly don't know the details of what I could be supporting by spending my money there. I sure hope one day we can plan ahead or find a place where I can meet one of these beautiful creatures. (The elephant pictured is one we met at the Chiang Mai Zoo) The second debate. Tigers. Steve loves big cats, so do I...but I don't need to be in the same room with one. I would LOVE to play with tiger babies though! Tiger Kingdom gets a good rap from many visitors....and a bad rap from some. There are "rumors" of the tigers being drugged but based on my own research I don't think this is true....tigers are cats, they sleep most of the day....just because they are lazy and sleepy a lot of the time doesn't mean they are drugged. BUT what I do struggle with is the fact that the tigers are constantly meeting people, all day....according to their website 400-600 people a DAY! This is crazy. I understand they have to feed the cats and take care of them, but this doesn't seem fair. They also only allow people to meet cats that are 2.5 or younger as it was determined that tigers older than that are too dangerous. So they have a constant flow of cat options in all ages under 2.5 and once the cats reach that age they "go to another place with lots of space". I might be wrong, but when I put all of this information together I think to myself....how do they constantly have baby tigers (which eventually get older), small tigers, medium tigers and larger tigers? That is a lot of tigers growing up and being around people and reared by people....tigers who will never be able to be fully independent in the wild....and they are breeding new cubs all the time. Where do these older tigers really go and how long can they keep this up before they have thousands of adult tigers who can't live in the wild? It just seems unfair. It sounds like they care more about money than the tigers. The tigers do seem happy, playful and get good meals everyday...some would say this is a luxury but what about the future for all of these baby and young tigers everyone goes to see? I don't have the answers, only my own thoughts on what seems logical...so here we are trying to decide if we should see the tigers? My heart is telling me know, but I've already missed out on elephants...do I tear myself away from the tigers too? Why can't people always have animals best interests in mind? That would make this a lot easier. |
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