Thailand Guide
The central plains
Wat Pa Luang Ta Bua Yannasampanno: the Tiger Sanctuary Temple
Opening time: Daily 1–4pm
Price: B4500 for private morning visits, or B500 during the afternoon
Address: 37km northwest of Kanchanaburi, off Highway 323 at kilometre-stone 21
Website: www.tigertemple.org
Kanchanaburi's oddest and most controversial attraction is the chance to stroke a tiger at the so-called "Tiger Sanctuary Temple", Wat Pa Luang Ta Bua Yannasampanno. Many tourists are seduced by the idea and join one of the numerous tours to the temple, which receives up to 800 visitors a day (do not wear red clothes, which antagonize the tigers). But some return discouraged by the experience, not least because the animals are housed in small bare cages and only let out to be paraded in front of visitors in the afternoons. The temple attracts a lot of media interest and has been accused of exploiting the animals as a money-making tourist attraction. Undercover investigators sent by the British animal welfare charity Care for the Wild International (www.careforthewild.org) have alleged a range of welfare problems and other malpractices, including unauthorized trading of tigers with a breeding centre in Laos; they have also questioned the temple's safety measures.
Temples are traditionally regarded as sanctuaries for unwanted and illegally captured animals and Wat Pa Luang Ta Bua has been taking in tigers since 1999, when a distressed young tiger cub was brought to them, probably orphaned by poachers keen to tap into the lucrative trade in tiger body parts. The temple's tiger population has since grown to over 17 animals, and the abbot is soliciting donations for the construction of an ambitious "Tigers' Island" reserve within the temple grounds.
A visit to the temple is easily combined with a ride on the Death Railway or a morning at Erawan Waterfall. Chartered transport arranged through Kanchanaburi tour operators costs around B120 return per person.