Our Mission
What do we do?
Every year in Thailand, hundreds of tiger cubs are bred and born in captivity for the sole purpose of providing interactions with tourists on holiday. The conditions in which these tigers live range from adequate to far below international standards. Many receive little to no veterinary care, are fed poor diets and endure unhealthy interactions with caretakers and tourists alike. Some are made to perform unnatural behaviors, in many cases suffering physical abuse during their training to do so. Upon reaching adulthood, most of these tigers are retired from the photo ops they provide to tourists, often being locked in a cage out of sight, where they remain with little care or stimulation or any access to the outdoors.
Our charity is dedicated to the welfare of these tigers, those who will live in captivity for the rest of their lives. We aim to raise the standards of their living and care to improve their lives and their welfare. We plan to accomplish this through research, education and direct aid:
Research: Through assessing and recording each tiger seen, its living conditions, care and welfare, we are able to document the growing number of captive tigers in Thailand with the hopes that this will enable authorities to hold facilities responsible for their care and well-being.
Education: Through our social media sites, reports and videos, we hope to share this information with the public, particularly those interested in animal welfare and/or visiting tigers in captivity. As more people learn to recognize what poor welfare is, the demand for improved welfare will lead facilities to make positive changes for their tigers.
Aid: We currently raise funds to assist two government-run facilities with the care of their tigers by building enclosures and donating extra food, carnivore supplement and enrichment for them. We hope as we grow that we will be able to help more facilities in the future.
While we wish to advise tourists on the better facilities at which to visit tigers and aid some of these facilities in effort to improve the welfare of their tigers, our ultimate goal is to help phase out this cruel and unnecessary industry. We understand that this will take some time, and we cannot sit back and wait for this to happen while tigers suffer. We will continue to help these tigers and push for changes one step at a time in effort to raise international standards for their care. If you wish to help them, too, join us to see what you can do For Tigers.For Tigers is a non profit organisation working to improve standards of welfare for captive tigers in Thailand.
History
The concept for this charity was founded on the back of the Tiger Temple closure. Everyone currently involved with For Tigers was at one time or another volunteering at the Temple. After the removal of the tigers to government facilities, there was a deep concern over the tiger’s welfare in their new home. The sub standard facilities run by the government were concerning especially as there seemed to be no move to improve them.
The tigers from the Temple started to suffer from stress and began to develop signs of stereotypical behaviours and self mutilation caused, in part, by the sudden reduction in the size of the area they could roam, separation from other tigers and unfamiliar surroundings and keepers. It was then that the Follow the Tigers campaign was started. As the campaign kicked off, it became more and more apparent that even the government facilities were not enough for captive tigers and that this was a bigger problem then just the Tiger Temple.
We started to visit numerous facilities holding tigers around Thailand and began to document the tigers living there and also the conditions they were living in. The realisation grew that the vast majority of the facilities were well below International standards. Something needed to be done to raise awareness and educate the public to this fact. This is when For Tigers was born.
For Tigers is dedicated to those tigers living in captivity. At this time it seems that the majority of tiger related organisations focus on conservation efforts but there isn’t so much of a focus on those tigers that will remain captive for life.
And this is where our journey begins.