EYES FOR
TIGERS
THE SITUATION
Tigers around Thailand generally live in poor conditions within the tourism industry. Hundreds of tigers are made to participate in selfies or unnatural tiger shows for tourist enjoyment. We aim to find good welfare facilities and promote responsible tiger tourism.
Since 2017 we have been visiting Thailand's tiger facilities. The facilities we visit are all those open to the public and offer varying degrees of hands-on interaction. Some have full hands-on interaction opportunities including tiger selfies and cub feeding. Others offer unnatural tiger shows, while others have no interactions at all yet still have varying degrees of tiger welfare in place.
To encourage better welfare practices in these facilities, we do an annual welfare assessment detailing where the facilities have got it right, and where they've got it very wrong. This includes looking at the nutrition (is there water?), behaviour (are the tigers pacing?), physical (are there any injuries such as declawing), environment (do the tigers have space) and also management (what's the level of welfare understanding?).
Details of what we find, alongside our welfare score can be found in the tiger facilities section on this site. With these scores, we hope to encourage responsible decision-making from potential tourists who will choose to avoid facilities with poor welfare practices, choosing to visit somewhere that does not allow visitors to cuddle cubs. On top of this, we hope to drive demand for better welfare encouraging the facilities themselves to change for the better, something that we intend to help directly with to help facilities change for the better.
EYES FOR TIGERS
Have you visited a zoo or other captive tiger facility in Thailand and seen poor conditions, cruel/abusive treatment or unusual behaviour? Have you encountered animals being exploited in a circus or show, used for interaction activities or as photographic props?
On the other hand, have you seen great welfare? Seen great handlers and well-looked-after tigers?
Report it to For Tigers.
Your reports help For Tigers to research and investigate these issues, potentially helping to improve welfare standards in these venues. You will also help create a comprehensive and constantly updated database of all the tigers, facilities and welfare across Thailand.
However, whilst it would be immensely helpful to these captive tigers to have extra eyes on the ground, we do not intend to force anyone to visit or participate in anything that goes against their beliefs. Do not participate in any of the activities that involve tigers and tourism such as photos and cub feeding but rather we are encouraging observation and research within the facility.
What we are doing
What's our goal?
Through our research, we aim to provide meaningful welfare scores that any visitor can understand. With this information, visitors can make a welfare-friendly decision on where to visit.
With help from the public who also visit these facilities, we can create a comprehensive database, tracking any welfare improvements, but also any negative progression.
Our goal is also to be able to identify facilities in need and offer our aid wherever possible to promote good welfare and see Thailand's captive tigers get a life worth living.