Special Investigation: Famous Tiger Temple Accused of Supplying Black Market | National Geographic
This is all being done at night. Pitch black, there are no lights. You see the cars driving into the Tiger Temple and the staff workers that are helping the wildlife traders. In December 2014, at the famed Tiger Temple in Thailand, investigators say a group of animal traffickers botched their late-night tiger heist. Our sources tell us they were supposed to take unregistered tigers like they had before, but instead investigators believe they took these three tigers, tigers with names and a paper trail.
A year later, National Geographic traveled there to investigate what happened that night. The temple presents itself as a sanctuary where monks live in harmony with 147 tigers. It's also a popular tourist destination that brings in an estimated $3 million a year. For years, conservationists and the media have reported abuse and exploitation of these animals. But we obtained exclusive evidence from the conservation group SE for Life, which they say shows that this Buddhist Monastery is trafficking tigers into the illegal international wildlife trade. Meaning that the tiger you took a selfie with one day could end up dead and smuggled across the border the next.
"I have the evidence to show the world by we have CCTV." Charlie has been a long-term adviser to the temple. We're not showing his face to protect his identity. Charlie told us that the traffickers would have needed to get through six locked gates to get to the tigers and that a senior staff member named Kasam holds the keys. The abbot, who Kasam has just implicated, is the founder and spiritual leader of the Tiger Temple.
Charlie secretly recorded a conversation with the abbot and the Tiger Temple's veterinarian. "Unfortunately, there were tigers that were for lack of a better term... they're dead. They were killed." It was inside Jaa first at the temple. We tried to speak to the abbot, but we're given his secretary instead. We asked what happened to the three missing tigers. "They still don't prove that this already disappeared. We have completely 147 tigers, which me mean no disappear." But these facts suggest otherwise.
In February 2015, the Tiger Temple's veterinarian presented evidence to the authorities that he says shows that the three tigers had disappeared in December. He handed over the microchips that had been cut out of the tigers. One of the points that came out in this investigation regarding the three missing tigers was that a mistake had been made. The tigers that were taken were microchipped and recorded by the DNP, and they were not supposed to be taken.
With that evidence in hand, officials from the Department of National Parks went to the temple in 2015 and confirmed that the three tigers were indeed gone. They also found 13 unregistered tigers and discovered a tiger corpse in a freezer. National Geographic gathered additional evidence suggesting that tigers have been disappearing for at least a decade.
"Basically, I was doing my rounds and then found that there were cubs born and a couple of the cages with the female tigers. Obviously, and then the next morning they say no there's no tigers. And I'd say 'Well, I saw the tigers with my own eyes. I saw them being born.' Um, so what's that all about?" They quietly said to me that they're going to a tiger farm in La. It seems to me that what the monks were doing was getting rid of some of the tigers, and then bringing in replacements for those tigers and renaming them with the names of the tigers that had disappeared in order to cover up the fact that they were gone.
Despite allegations of trafficking for many years, no one has ever been accused or prosecuted. Now, with new evidence from SE for Life, the federal Royal Thai police says it will soon begin an in-depth investigation into alleged wildlife trafficking and possible money laundering. This is not just about a single Buddhist temple in Thailand. This is about the fate of wild tigers. There are nearly 1,000 captive tigers in Thailand, not just in the Tiger Temple but also in entertainment parks, wildlife farms, and other facilities in Thailand.
These places are leaking live tigers, tiger meat, tiger skin, and tiger bones into the illegal international trade that leads to the poaching of the world's last 3,200 wild tigers. Because the parts and products of wild tigers are considered superior and many times more valuable than the parts and products of captive tigers. It's run by the same organized criminals that traffic in guns, drugs, and in women and children.
If you want to follow me, the future of the Tiger Temple is uncertain. The government plans to remove the tigers soon. But meanwhile, the temple is moving forward with a nearly $170 million World Buddhist Sanctuary complex. The initial phase includes a sanctuary and hands-on tiger area that can house 500 tigers. The Tiger Temple Foundation has also applied for a zoo license. Critics contend that if approved, the sanctuary will have greater autonomy over its tiger operations.
"We want the people in the world to know this press is illegal. Tigers are like the rare animal. Now take they cannot do anything if we don't help them. It's not safe for them."