After a two year absence due to Covid restrictions in Thailand, today we were finally able to revisit the Tiger Temple tigers in both of the Department of National Park (DNP) facilities.
As a quick recap, back in November 2019, you helped us to fund ponds for one facility and also fund ponds and donate grass and trees to create a more natural environment in the enclosures for the other facility. However, before everything had been finished, the pandemic struck. This caused the facilities to slow down the final construction and also employ a severely reduced staff. It also meant that the tigers were initially not getting to use these enclosures, but that’s all changed!
Out to play
Now, all the enclosures are being used by tigers. At last the tigers are finally starting to show positive behaviours, relaxing, playing, stalking and using the ponds. Sadly, a few more tigers have passed away since November 2019, but the remaining tigers appear happier and healthier than before. Some of the lucky tigers now getting access to enclosures include Big Mek, Saitaan, Jumpbee, Windy, Angel 3, Vayo Jr, Saidao Jr, Sangdao and Titan! There are many more too, though there are still some without access, such as Fire, Storm and Comet, but we hope to change that soon.
However, Covid has been a problematic time for the facilities. They have suffered 70% budget cuts and their usual chicken supplier reduced their production. This caused the facilities to get their chickens from local farm suppliers instead.
Time for food
On this trip, we donated both full chickens and pork to both facilities, enough to feed the Temple tigers, and the other tigers housed there, for a few days. However, as times are tough, we would like to be able to fund more regular chicken donations – at the moment the tigers are eating carcasses only, which is not enough for their daily nutrition. Good quality whole chickens cost 50THB (£1.10/$1.50/€1.30) and we would like to be able to provide full chickens once a week if possible.
Across both facilities, there are a total of 63 tigers. Providing 2kg of chicken a week would cost 6300THB (£140/$190/€165).
As always, thanks for your support and, as we move toward the end of the year, and the beginning of the new one, we hope to be able to bring you more positive changes. If you are able to help us with providing food, please consider donating.
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