It’s with mixed feelings that we’ve decided to go and view tigers today.
We’ve read several blogs and looked at trip advisor and read the positive and the negative, but loving big cats as I do we what’d to put Tiger Kingdon into perspective and remember that this is a zoo not aTiger Rahabilatation centre. All the tigers here are bread in captivity and will never be able to be released to the wild. These tigers will be sold to other zoos and such around the world. We can feel sad about their plight but it’s man that has destroyed their habitiat, not the other way around.
The tireless work given to these magnificent creatures by the team of dedicated staff only shows in the contadino of the animals here.
We read stories that the cats were beaten with sticks, the only stick I saw were in the hands of the trainers and were small pieces of bamboo measuring 30cm long.
Now, stop for a moment and think. There’s you in the cage with a big tiger and all that stops him from lunging at you is the training and a small stick between you and the tigers natural instinct….. I’ll ask you now, are you happy that the trainer gives the tiger a tap on the paw when her moves toward you the wrong way?
Tiger Kingdom is about 30km to the north of Chiang Mai and an easy ride on a scooter. Take the 1095 highway and look for the signs. The road you’re looking for will be on your left, travel about 800m and take the little road immediate after the 1st bridge you cross (there’s a huge sign and red arrow pointing the way).
It’s best to get here early if you want a good time as the busses pile up at about 11am and then it starts to become noisy and crowded.
Once inside the enclosure we had chose three size tigers to sit and play with. Smallest, small and of course big. It
The most incredible feeling being so close to shush a magnificent creature, but always in your mind is a spence of primal fear, like an inbuilt instinct that this animal sits highest on the food chain than yourself.
If your coming to Thailand I can highly recommend going to Tiger Kingdom. I’m glad that we went with and open mind and hearts and sure we read all the comments and hope that you too will do the same and make you own mind.
