Footage goes viral of tiger maltreated in Thailand zoo
A Thai zoo in Pattaya has sparked outrage after a video of staff repeatedly prodding a tiger to elicit roars for tourist photos went viral, renewing criticism of the kingdom’s notorious animal tourism industry.
The clip, which has garnered more than one million views since it was posted on Monday, shows a zoo attendant jabbing the chained animal in the face with a stick as tourists take turns posing with or sitting on top of the big cat for pictures.
“This tiger gets poked hundreds of times a day so it will roar for the picture with tourists,” wrote Edwin Wiek, the founder of Wildlife Friends Foundation Thailand, who filmed the video and posted it on Facebook.
A spokesperson for the zoo, The Million Years Stone Park and Pattaya Crocodile Farm, said the tiger attendant had been transferred to another job following the incident.
“The owner loves animals and he will not allow staff to hurt his animals,” she added.
Tourist dollars and the lure of the animal selfie fuel a lucrative but controversial wildlife tourism industry in Thailand, where opportunities to ride elephants, hold monkeys and pet tigers are available for a price.
Animal rights groups have long criticized the industry as inhumane, with chained up animals kept in small quarters with inadequate diets and veterinary care.
The Pattaya zoo also has a daily show of a man fighting bare-handed with crocodiles.
“The taking of selfies with wildlife should be stopped completely,” Wiek told AFP
In 2016 the kingdom made international headlines after police raided its infamous Tiger Temple, a tourist site accused of links to the illegal wildlife trade.
Earlier this month, boxer Floyd Mayweather visited Phuket and posted photos on Instagram showing him riding an elephant, another practice criticized by rights advocates.