There are 17 tigers at the temple. Seven were orphans rescued from the wild and ten have been breed and born here at the temple. (information as of December 2005)
Local people intercepted cubs, whose mothers were killed from poachers brought them to the temple. The Abbot took them in when no-one else would and cares for them as his sons and daughters.
Whole chicken, beef and dried cat food. The meat is cooked due to the Asian bird flu and so the tigers do not get the taste of blood and associate blood with food. The dried cat food replaces the nutrients lost from the meat during the cooking process.
The monks and Tiger Temple staff have very good control over the tigers and can read their behaviour extremely well. The tiger handlers get the occasional scratch while playing with the cubs but nothing serious has ever happen at the temple.
They have been hand-reared with compassion by the monks and have had interaction since they were young cubs. So they have imprinted on humans and have accepted us part of their lives. They are also use to people coming to the temple and having photos with as it is a daily routine.
whew that is both wonderful and scary :D
ReplyDelete