KANCHANABURI - The Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation intends to start relocating more tigers from the famous Tiger Temple on Monday despite the objections of temple officials.
The date was set following a meeting of representatives of national park officials, police, soldiers and the Kanchanaburi branch of the National Office of Buddhism at the Kanchanaburi provinicial hall on Friday.
However, no representatives from Wat Pa Luangta Bua Yannasampanno, better known as the Tiger Temple, showed up at the meeting.
Yanyong Lekhawichit, chief of the department's Protected Area Regional Office 3, said there were a total of 147 tigers under the care of the temple in Sai Yok district of Kanchanaburi.
On Jan 28, five of the tigers were taken to Pa Khao Son and Khao Prathap Chang wildlife breeding centres in Ratchaburi in the first phase of the relocation. In the second phase, five more tigers were taken to the same centres on Feb 23.
- Earlier report: Activists take temple licence row to court
Wildlife and animal welfare activists have petitioned the Central Administrative Court to withdraw the zoo permit issued to the temple.
Luangta Chan, the abbot of the temple and chairman of the Wat Pa Luangta Bua Yannasampanno Foundation, which oversees the tigers, recently notified the department that the foundation had already filed a suit with the Central Administrative Court against moves to relocate the tigers.
Forestry officials and representatives from related agencies meet on Friday to discuss the next relocation plan for the tigers from the Tiger Temple in Kanchanaburi. (Photo by Piyarach Chongcharoen)
The foundation has asked the department to await the court’s ruling before taking further steps to move the tigers from the temple, said Mr Yanyong.
The senior forestry official said the abbot’s latest move not to allow the department to transfer the tigers from the temple worried department chief Thaya Nethithammakul, who feared the temple might mobilise monks and disciples to obstruct the relocation of the animals, as it had done during the relocation of six protected Asian black bears last year.
The department had assigned him to seek cooperation from Kanchanaburi provincial authorities to help facilitate the relocation of the tigers, said Mr Yanyong.
The Kanchnaburi provincial court earlier rejected a suit filed by the foundation to demand 147 million baht in compensation from the department for the expenses incurred in raising the 147 tigers between 2001 and 2014, he said.
Kanchanaburi governor Sak Tosomboon stressed that all sides must abide by the law. He also promised to go to the temple to explain the relocation plan to the abbot and monks.
The Tiger Temple has been accused of being involved in the illegal wildlife trade for more than a decade. It has been the focus of inquiries since three of its 147 captive tigers reportedly disappeared in late 2014. However, police investigations have made little progress and wildlife protection officials have conceded that the case is "very sensitive".
The Tiger Temple is estimated to generate about 100 million baht a year from tourists who visit by the busload to pet and feed tiger cubs, walk tigers on leashes and take selfies with the animals, according to a National Geographic magazine report in January this year.
All of the tigers at the temple are supposed to have microchips implanted in them. However, it was revealed last year that the microchips had been cut out of the three adult males that disappeared in December 2014. The temple's longtime veterinarian, Somchai Visasmongkolchai, made the revelation after resigning his post and turning over the microchips to officials of the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation.
