Monday 30 May 2016

Tigers seized from Thailand temple over wildlife trafficking claim

Officials remove three animals following raid at temple, which has been investigated for animal abuse in recent years

Reuters in Kanchanaburi

Monday 30 May 201616.17 BSTLast modified on Monday 30 May 201618.10 BST


Wildlife authorities in Thailand have raided a Buddhist temple where tigers are kept, taking away three of the animals and vowing to confiscate scores more in response to global pressure over wildlife trafficking.

The Buddhist temple in Kanchanaburi province, west of Bangkok, has more than 100 tigers and has become a tourist destination where visitors take selfies with tigers and bottle-feed their cubs.

The temple promotes itself as a wildlife sanctuary, but in recent years it has been investigated for suspected links to wildlife trafficking and animal abuse.

Wildlife activists have accused the temple’s monks of illegally breeding tigers, while some visitors have said the animals can appear drugged. The temple denies the accusations.

The raid on Monday was the latest move by authorities in a tug-of-war since 2001 to bring the tigers under state control.

Adisorn Nuchdamrong, the deputy director general of the department of national parks, said the team had been able to confiscate the tigers thanks to a warrant obtained a few hours before the operation.

“We have a court warrant this time, unlike previous times, when we only asked for the temple’s cooperation, which did not work,” Adisorn said.

“International pressure concerning illegal wildlife trafficking is also part of why we’re acting now.”

Officials from the department of national parks, wildlife and plant conservation said they planned to confiscate and remove more tigers from the temple on Tuesday and send them to a state-owned sanctuary.

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