Thailand Officials Find 40 Dead Tiger Cubs in Temple Freezer

[Rob L 3,811]

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/02/world/asia/thailand-tiger-temple-dead-cubs.html?_r=0

BANGKOK — The Thai wildlife authorities found 40 dead tiger cubs in a freezer on Wednesday at the Tiger Temple, a controversial tourist attraction in western Thailand, and were investigating whether the carcasses were evidence of the temple’s involvement in the illegal wildlife trade.

The discovery came as Thai wildlife rangers were removing adult tigers from the temple in an effort to shut down the attraction after receiving complaints that the temple was trafficking in endangered species.

The temple, a Buddhist monastery that offered paying tourists close contact with tigers, has long been accused by conservationists and animal rights activists of exploiting and abusing the animals, accusations the temple has denied.

Wildlife officials said that only one of the dead cubs found on Wednesday had been reported to the government as required by law and that the police were investigating.

Tiger parts, while illegal to sell, are in high demand in Asia, particularly China, for use in traditional medicine. There is even a market for frozen tiger cubs, as the arrest last month of a Vietnamese man carrying four of them attests.

Representatives of the temple, Wat Pha Luang Ta Bua, said that Thailand’s Wildlife Conservation Office had been notified of all of the cubs’ births and deaths and that the bodies were kept as proof that none of them were sold on the black market.

“We have declared all the deaths to the officials over years,” said Supitpong Pakdjarung, a former police colonel who runs the temple’s business operation. “They’ve known about these carcasses for a long time.”

The wildlife agency has been trying for months to shut down the Tiger Temple’s zoo. The temple has promoted itself as a spiritual center where people and tigers lived in harmony, and it has charged tourists as much as $140 apiece for the chance to bathe, hand-feed and play with the tigers.

The temple was already under investigation on suspicion of illegally trading in tigers after a former veterinarian reported that three live adult tigers had vanished.

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Revolting.