Tiger Kingdom

Last year when I visited Thailand, I really wanted to go to 'Tiger Temple' near Bangkok, which is advertised as a "sanctuary" for orphaned tigers run by Buddhist monks. I ended up running out of time and skipping it, but that turned out to be okay. Friends who visited later said that they dope the tigers so they're calm and sedated and tourists can come and take pictures with them, which I don't really agree with.

Also, at a lot of these animal tourist attractions in Thailand, the animals aren't treated very well**. Last year on Ko Chang we rode elephants that were kept chained up in little stalls when they weren't carting tourists around, and after that experience, I wasn't keen on supporting such tourist attractions.

However on my outing yesterday I met a friendly trio of Australians who had been to 'Tiger Kingdom' here in Chiang Mai, and they said that to their knowledge, the tigers weren't sedated, and they seemed to be treated well. So this morning I took a tuk-tuk out there before visiting the Pandas at Chiang Mai Zoo. (They wake them up at 3pm everyday for visitors)

Tiger Kingdom had different packages you could buy, and I splurged and paid about 50 USD for the 4 in 1 ticket, meaning I got to go in all four tiger cages; newborn, small, medium and "big cat." It sounded like a good deal, but when I was already scared of the 6 week old tiger that kept trying to bite me in the "newborn" cage, it wasn't a good sign.

Each cage/tiger size got increasingly terrifying. The scariest were the "medium" sized tigers, because they sat me down among three year-old tigers to take pictures. It was one of the scariest things I've ever done, and I was perfectly content snapping a few quick pictures and getting the heck out of that cage.

A very terrifying moment in life:


I was trembling when I went into the last cage with the "big cats," who were all around 21 months old. Luckily these ones were mostly napping and not as feisty as the smaller tigers. The staff told me to lay my head down on one tiger's belly for a photo, which I reluctantly did, and I heard its stomach gurgling!


It was well worth the 50 USD and a few heart-pounding minutes in each cage. If you ever find yourself in Chiang Mai (which you should, I absolutely love this city) it's worth checking out. And according to the signs, the tigers here are not drugged. It said that because the tigers have been raised in captivity, they are used to being around humans, and that tigers are generally more active at night. They are also fed twice a day (chicken, I asked) and therefore don't have the desire to hunt.

However, it was still an 'enter at your own risk' type of situation, and the ticket price includes healthcare costs if a tiger indeed bites your hand off.

**More info. about reports of animal abuse: http://thaiwildorchids.com/tiger-temple-abuse.htm