BANGKOK // Thai authorities yesterday charged three Buddhist monks after they tried to smuggle tiger skins and charms made from tiger parts out of a temple that monks said was a sanctuary for the big cats but critics said was a tourist trap.
The temple west of Bangkok has long been popular with tourists who paid about US$20 (Dh73) each to get in and pose for pictures with its tigers, to feed cubs and walk among them.
But the temple faced mounting allegations of abuse and illicit wildlife trafficking. Authorities armed with a court order raided it on Monday to confiscate the 137 tigers found there and take them to a government wildlife sanctuary.
The discovery of the skins and charms, or amulets, made from skins pointed to an even more lucrative business than thought.
“The jars have labels, so I think they’ve made medicine here,” said Adisorn Nuchdamrong, deputy director-general of the department of national parks, who has been overseeing the ratigers’ removal and search of the temple premises.
Authorities found 20 jars containing baby tigers and tiger organs in a “laboratory”, reinforcing suspicion folk medicine was made at the temple, he said.
Tiger parts are used in traditional Chinese medicine, a multi-million dollar business that has driven wild tigers to the brink of extinction and fueled the rearing of the animals in parts of Asia, especially in China.
“We will discover more as we search on,” Mr Adisorn said.
Two temple devotees and a monk found in a pick-up with amulets, and two monks who helped load it, were charged under wildlife laws, he said.
Representatives of the temple were not available for comment.
The confiscation of the tiger products followed the discovery on Wednesday of 40 tiger cubs in a freezer.
Wildlife officials suspected they were being preserved for use in potions.
Thailand is well known as a hub for illicit trafficking of wildlife products, including ivory.
Animal rights campaigners had for years criticised the temple and urged tourists to shun it, and complained that wildlife protection laws were poorly enforced.
National parks workers had removed 84 of the 137 tigers at the temple as of yesterday.
* Reuters
