The World Animal Protection’s branch office in Thailand has demanded the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plants Conservation to withdraw license or suspend the issuance of license to the Tiger’s Temple in Kanchanaburi to raise tigers.
Mrs Supaporn Last, director of World Animal Protection Thailand, said Thursday that, during last week, more than 20 foreign news agencies reported Tiger’s Temple in Kanchanaburi which was closed down last year by the department for illegally trafficking in tigers was recently awarded a license to operate a tiger farm under a new company.
She said that she herself was very concerned about the report which was yet to be verified and the World Animal Protection head office in Britain had contacted her to find out whether the report was true or not.
To find out the truth, Mrs Supaporn said she had sent a letter to the department asking for information about the license for tiger farm and urging the department not to grant any new license for tiger farm.
WAP senior advisor Dr Jan Schmidt-Burbach, meanwhile, said that tiger farm has not helped in conserving tiger species but, on the contrary, cause sufferings to the big cats.
A study conducted by WAP last year showed that in the past five years, the number of tigers in Thailand increased by 33 percent. According to the study, the most worrisome issue about tiger farm is the welfare of the tigers as they were used for tourism purpose with tiger cubs being separated from their mothers when they were just 2-3 weeks old.
50 percent of the tigers in the farm in Thailand were kept in space less than 20 square metres for each.
