Dear sir/madam at the Thai Department of National Parks, I'm writing you because I want you to improve the situation in the Thai Tiger Temple. There are a lot of things wrong at that place, not only for the tigers but also for the visitors. I think the Thai Department of National Parks have the authority to change this. Let me explain. I'm a Animal Management student and I actually was planning to visit the Tiger Temple. That's why I looked it up on the internet. But the first thing that caught my attention was an article about tiger abuse in the temple. I kept on reading and found more information about this fact, and I even got a hold of a report from the Care of the Wild International. This report makes clear that there are serious problems going on in the temple and yet the Thai government hasn't tried to improve the situation. These are the main points. The Tiger Temple isn't registered with the Thai authorities as an appropriate institution. Under the Thai Wild Animals Reservation and Protection Act 1992 it is illegal to possess or breed tigers without being registered with the government. This already says the temple isn't even allowed to have tigers. The Act also says they're also not allowed to breed tigers, while the abbot has said that he breeds the tigers because tourists like to see tiger cubs. Next point is there is proof of tiger exchange with a tiger farm in Laos. CITES (Convention for the International Trade in Endangered Species) states this is illegal, with the only exception when appropriate permits have been issued. This isn't the case with the Tiger Temple, for such permits are solely given to institutions registered with the Thai government. They claim to be a life-long home for the tigers, but between 2005 and 2007 at least seven tigers disappeared and five tigers appeared without explanation. They even named some of the new tigers after the ones that have been exported to maintain their reputation. This really doesn't correspond with a love or the animals and taking care of them for the rest of their lives. The Tiger Temple also claims to participate in the conservation of tigers and other wildlife. There is no genetic information known of any of the tigers, which means they're most likely to be hybrids. This automatically means they can't participate in a conservation programme. Actually the Tiger Temple never has done anything to support wildlife conservation, nor have they done any research into wild habitats for tigers. They just keep them as a tourist attraction and want to look good for the outside world. Most of the enclosures the tigers are confined to in the Temple are 3 by 8 meters, which are not more than simple concrete and steel boxes. This is real torture. The tigers aren't able to express their natural behavior, neither can they find a place to rest. And that while they're undergoing a lot of stress when they have to take pictures with the visitors. The 'Tiger Falls' enclosure may look better than the cage enclosures, but it is only 80 - 100mý. The World Association of Zoo and Aquaria (WAZA) recommends a minimum of 500mý for two tigers for international standards. It's all presented as their 'natural habitat', but this is far from true. The biggest problem at the Temple is the well-being of the tigers. Of course this is also the most important aspect of keeping animals. The staff keep control over the tigers through dominance, which is enforced by beating with wooden poles and squeezing the tiger's testicles. During photo-taking with visitors the tigers are tied or chained. When a tiger 'misbehaves' it gets hit with rods or gets tigers' urine sprayed in the face. The urine of a hyper- dominant animal induces a response of fear and stress. And if it wasn't enough already, the beatings and abuse even increased over the over the years. It is heartbreaking that all this wrongdoing is going on in a place where abbots should take care of these animals. Instead it got way out of hand and now the tigers are nothing more than money-making tourist attractions. They have to satisfy the visitors, at all costs. You shouldn't even think about taking the natural behavior out of an animal, let alone forcing it with abuse. There is a certain level in which you can train all animals, but this obviously crosses the line. In training animals should be rewarded instead of punished. And I don't even think you can call this training anymore, it's just putting the tigers in a situation they hate and when they try to show that, they're being punished. The interaction between tigers and visitors isn't just a problem for the tigers, but also the visitors are exposed to the danger of these animals. The tigers repeatedly showed aggressive behavior towards visitors, staff and volunteers at the Temple. Staff are also ill-equipped and unprepared to deal with potential emergency situations. These are in short terms the problems that occur at the Thai Tiger Temple. It's clear the animals are severely abused and the Temple infringes the laws that are determined for conservations programmes and the keeping and trading of animals. The CWI has come up with a few points Thai authorities should do. Here are my thoughts on improving the situation. The first thing, of course, is an immediate stop to the situation as it is now. These tigers definitely deserve a better life without all the stress and abuse they are undergoing now. I'd say you place them in a real conservation park, where they can spend the rest of their lives in a peaceful way. This must be done as quickly as possible. After that I hope it is possible to rebuild the Tiger Temple, but with the good intentions it started with. If the Tiger Temple would have been registered with the government, I think there can be a lot more supervision. For the Tiger Temple is a exceptional case, I feel like they can get away with more than registered institutions. That's not fair at all and they seem to have taken good advantage of it, which resulted in this mess. Tigers will always be predators and the only way to keep them from showing their natural behavior is by drugging or abusing them. I think it would be a better idea to interact with visitors via training or something, but not letting them get that close to the tigers nor letting them with visitors every day. In every way interaction with visitors is very tiring and may be stressful too, so they should have enough rest throughout the rest of the week to compensate that. I do support the idea of this place where tigers who can't go back into the wild are taken care of, but not like this. I'm sure it started off as a good and animal-friendly place, but it got out of hand, due to, I think, the tourism. They needed money to take care of the tigers, and how to make better money than by being the only place in the world where you can pet and take photographs with tigers. But that isn't the right way. I hope the Tiger Temple can start over again, with new animals who need a peaceful place to live the rest of their lives in. I'm waiting for your response. Yours sincerely, Kim van Oudshoorn