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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