Photo by: http://www.flickr.com/photos/larskjensen/2752917025/
Tiger on the Menu
Thai police recently raided a house in Bangkok and "seizure of tiger skins and carcasses and other protected wildlife from a major smuggler at a Bangkok home".
Sounds reasonable enough...they caught him. Note the use of the words 'Skins' and 'major smuggler'.
The report goes on to state: "An official from the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation (DNP) said the skinned tigers could have been obtained from one of the zoos. So, the inspection, when done, would reveal a head-count and other details of animals at all premises and likely evidence of any that had gone missing."
That is good news. It is years ago now that all zoos in Thailand were required to have their tigers microchipped. This was done specifically because of the illegal export of tigers from the infamous Sri Racha Tiger Zoo and should have prevented, but didn't Tigers going out of the back door of the cruel and exploitative Tiger Temple.
Not just Tigers here as the report also states "Tiger skins and carcasses along with meat from elephants, zebras and lions were found at the house". Bit worrying because there have been recent reports of elephants being killed for their meat in Thailand.
You can read this full story here: http://news.asiaone.com/News/AsiaOne%2BNews/Asia/Story/A1Story20120207-326300.html
The next report is headed: "Police suspect illegal tiger meat haul came from zoo"
It mentions "400kg of tiger meat" which suggests there was more than one animal here and goes on to state "the alleged tiger meat owner, Tananuwat Boonperm, alias Od Bang Kroui, kept records relating to the illegal wildlife trade."
and goes on to implicate with "The tiger zoo in Si Racha was linked to a previous case when 11 tiger carcasses were found in Nakhon Phanom in 2008.
People caught with the tiger meat at the time claimed it came from the Si Racha zoo. Investigators, however, could not prosecute the farm due to insufficient evidence, he said."
Are the investigators truly blind and ignorant to what is going on in Sri Racha Tiger Zoo? To me it is obvious. Somebody needs to pull their finger out.
Further to the above:
"The officer said the tiger population at the zoo was growing rapidly and the daily food bill was 2,000 baht."
2,000 baht!!!!!!! There was more than 400 tigers there on my last visit and they are churning cubs out because they need them for photography sessions. 2,000 baht is a good night out in Thailand!
I have asked the question before. Where are all these tigers going? I know. To make things worse Sri Racha is not alone. There are loads of other places producing tigers. These animals will easily live 20 years. There is not the space to house them all.
Read more on the above at: http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/278582/police-suspect-illegal-tiger-meat-haul-came-from-zoo
Tiger Producers include:
Sri Racha Tiger Zoo
The Tiger Temple
Million Years Stone Park
Samutprakarn Crocodile Farm
Tiger Kingdom in Chiang Mai
There is a whole big mess needs sorting out here. Heads need to roll.
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