Working with the Tigers & Meditation with Buddhist monks, Thailand:

Yannick Ulmann 2nd November 2013

 

After been working more than 30 days as a volunteer at the Tiger Temple of Thailand, 2 persons interviewed me about my experience, you can read this interview just below :-) 

 

How did you get this idea to work with tigers ?

 

While a linguistic stay in Venezuela, my host family was watching a documentary about a Tiger Temple in Thailand. I found this documentary super interesting and did further research on internet about it, that's when I saw the opportunity to work as a volunteer. Without waiting, I sent my application to go work there.

 

What is the schedule of a typical working day for a volunteer at this temple ?

 

The day starts at 7.00am . All volunteers must go where the cubs are staying during the night. They were five cubs , all between 3 and 4 and a half months . We must put them out of their enclosure and play with them in their playground until about 7:20-7:30am. Then we must bring all of them to the temple. At 8:00am the guests will arrive at the temple for their "morning program" which one consist to give milk to the tigers, to watch the songs & prayers of the monks and have lunch with us the volunteers & Thai staff . After lunch, if they were not many guests , volunteers have to bring the " Cubs" in their enclosure . And there, we had either to clean all the leftover chicken / big tigers droppings or clean the enclosure of the "Cubs" + Wash the cubs. At 11:00am, the volunteers are free for one hour break . It is possible for them to eat free " noodles " at the temple entrance . At 12:00pm everyone have to meet at the " waterfall " to welcome the tourists and check that they don't put themselves in danger by getting too close to the tigers or taking inappropriate postures. Then for each volunteer, work in the afternoon consist either to work in " Babycage " i.e. to look after four sessions of 7-8 tourists who will spend 45 minutes in the enclosure with the " Cubs " to give them milk and play with them or work at the" waterfall " which one means selling extras programs afternoon (cubs feeding or bathing / exercises with young tigers who are until 1 year) or to work at the Canyon by helping tourists to walk with the tigers down to the Canyon. Once at the Canyon, volunteers must help the tourists to decide if they want to make a free photo or a special group photo up to 6 people at 1,000 baths (~ 30USD), to control that the tourists doesn't come in the tigers area with objects that could put them in danger, selling tickets for the " Tigers Show " who is at the end of the afternoon and as well to answer all the questions from the tourists. The end of a working day for a volunteer end up between 3:45-4:15pm by helping to manage the queue of the tourists who want to have the very last picture of the day which one is the Abbot of the monks who will give a special "treat" (bottles of milk) to the big tiger Seyfa. Then, all volunteers are free until 6:30pm. At 6:30pm all volunteers have to participate to the meditation that takes place in the temple with all the monks. The duration of meditation can take 30min up to 2h. After the meditation, a very kind 65 years old monk under the name of "Kruba (teacher) Kam Chad" will sit at the front of the volunteers and will teach Yoga postures, basics of meditation and answer any questions that volunteers have about meditation & Buddhism. This is the description of a typical day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What kinds of questions that tourists ask the most frequently ?

 

The most famous question that comes up every day is: Do the tigers are drugged ? Or why tigers have stripes ? With what do you feed the tigers? How many tigers are in total in the world? Up to what age can a tiger lives and so on…

 

So, are the tigers drugged at this temple ?

 

Yes, they are with all the money that tourists are bringing (LMFAO) Of course NOT. These tigers are NOT drugged. Lots of worldwide organizations have been already to the temple and tried to prove that the tigers were drugged, but until today, no evidence has been found !

In plus, evidence of the drug instilled to tigers should not come from a survey by a private organization which one can be more corruptible than the government, but by careful and systematic examination of what is observable. By being the speaking person who is defending that we drug the Tigers @ the temple only with love, let me highlight a few points in order to reflect those who are interested: Why we will drugs the tigers when the tourists want to see them moving? What kind of marketing project is that? A sedated animal keeps his mouth open, his tongue hanging down and his eyes are open, that sort of things are not observable at the temple. Big cats sleep between 16 and 20 hours per day, how can we be surprised that during the hottest part of the day they are just lying down? After two weeks, the cubs are removed from their parents and are brought to the temple and get the habit of getting touched, caressed by an average of 200 visitors per DAY ! It is through this process and not by drugging them that they are accustomed to have the contact with humans and that is why they are not aggressive when we touch them even that we don't know them. Sedation for an animal of this size is extremely expensive. For almost most people, the temple is a factory to make money, so why will they spend the money to drug them…?

 

Can you give me some information about this place and tigers in general ?

 

The first tiger was offered to the temple in 1999, following this, the number of tigers have increased. On this day, the temple has a total of 122 tigers, two lions, four bears, plenty of buffalos, zebus, cows, pigs, deers, peacocks etc… At the moment, in the temple, they are 95 Thai staff working, between 6-10 volunteers and 5 foreigners working there full time. Each tiger eats an average of 2 to 6 whole chickens cooked per day. The cost for one tiger per day is around 600 Baths (20USD) ! All tigers have distinctive white circular spots on the backside of their ears. They function as 'false eyes', making the tiger seem bigger and watchful to a potential predator attacking from the rear. They have as well the largest canines of all big cat species ranging in size from 6 to 7.6 cm in length. The claws of the tiger can be up to 10 cm in length and are used to grasp and hold onto prey and they are retractable in that ligaments hold them in a protective skin sheath when their not being used….

 

For you, what was the best part of the day there ?

 

Honestly, I had two favorite moments, the first one was to open the door of the "Cubs" enclosure at 7.00am and see the five cubs running & jumping everywhere in the grass. By Starting the day like this, you can only be happy and smile to life, even if you're tired… The second time was to learn what Kruba Kam Chad will teach us after meditation and learn his point of view about general life :-)

 

What was your worst moment ?

 

Before the end of my experience, I got stung by a scorpion on my feet during the night. The woke up was painful with my feet all swollen, it got me four days of antibiotics as well as working with socks & shoes instead of wearing flip-flops…

 

How did you find the experience? If you had to do it again , would you do it ?

 

I think it's difficult to find a more rewarding experience than this one. It was really interesting, full of new discoveries and i met a lot of wonderful people. I will definitely do it again if i had to !

 

Something else to add ?

 

To make careful readers about various informations pouring on internet, I want you that you keep one thing in mind: It's that every month volunteers from four corners of the world leave their families, their work, renounce to spend their time on beaches or bars to offer their time as volunteers to learn more about these animals. We work all day in the heat to take care of these animals and try to make as much as we can the tourists happy. It's the love of animals that made us go to this temple and not ​​the fact to torture/drugs them. Allegations of abuse are unfounded, overwhelming lack of information and highly detrimental to the survival of animals. In fact they see the cost of their food covered by the tourist trade. If they will no longer come the money would sorely miss…

 

How do you feel right now ?

 

I feel very proud and fortunate to have been able to live this experience and happy to strike out two things of my "Life List" . I am all Ready to attack a new thing of my list…