Posted by Mossbeard on 2014-10-29 15:55:45

That place looks deeply depressing, those poor Tigers.

Posted by liquidorange on 2014-10-29 15:58:50

It was not all it was cracked up to be, that's for sure. I envisioned something a lot cooler than what it actually was.

Posted by Cavetroll on 2014-10-29 16:07:45

This was a terrible idea (the park, not your decision to honeymoon there). Tigers hunt to eat. Putting them in a cage isn't going to change their instincts. I feel badly for the tourist, though. He totally got Clawpombed.

Posted by Chainsaw on 2014-10-29 17:02:08

I don't feel bad for him.

"Yay, let's poke the caged wild killer animal for my own amusement."

What the world needs: less people focused on their own entertainment and selfies.

Posted by Balle2000 on 2014-10-29 17:53:31

To be perfectly honest, I'd love the chance interact with such a magnificent animal. But I wouldn't do in support of this kind of swim-with-dolphins money making endeavor. It's just another SeaWorld. Thanks, but no tanks (or cages).

Posted by Wreckage on 2014-10-29 18:12:28

I tend to think you can see all these charakteristics with domesticated house cats. Domestication can go pretty far and your animal can become incredibly tame.
Yet even if they carefully watch out not to hurt you they will accidentially scratch you once in a while, crawling over your body and trying to keep balance.
On top of it their sudden focus shifts and attention for movement and noises can make them lose awareness of their sourroundings for a moment. I tend to think cats are somewhat autistic in their behavior.
The thing is when your cat scratches you in the heat of a moment, either because it is distracted or wants to play or you tried to caress her and she is hurting or because you catch her by surprise... whatever the reason it's usually just a scratch and the cat didn't mean anything by it.

If you get just scratched by a tiger or a lion you're lying on the floor bleeding. If that large cat would do the same attack to another thick skinned cat it wouldn't be fatal like that. So even if that large cat wants to relate to you, humans are fragile beings compared to them, while in comparison to house cats we are incredibly resilient.

It's still different from say a crocodile tho for instance. An animal you genuinly can't or at least shouldn't try to domesticate because ultimatively its brain is wired too differently to care about us.

But that is probably precisely why these threats get underestimated. Because when you work with a cat and see that she cares you can get lured into a false sense of safety just as a snail isn't really save from a childs boots even if it doesn't 'want' to stomp on it.

Posted by JimmyFantastic on 2014-10-29 18:26:23

I know someone who went there and the facebook pics did look cool.... but signing the waiver would ring alarm bells for me lol.

Posted by awambawamb on 2014-10-29 18:30:01

as a reward for his bravery, that man should be assigned to wash the sharks teeth.

Posted by harvestmouse on 2014-10-29 20:04:09

This actually is a massive problem. As Jimmy hinted at, the amount of people from the west who have done it and posted pics on FB etc are huge.

The tigers are sedated, sedation is dangerous and cruel. How often do you think these tigers are being sedated? How many tigers have not recovered from being regularly sedated?

Tigers are an endangered species and this also falls under cruelty to animals remit. Do you really want to be associated with cruelty to an endangered and amazingly beautiful species? I know I certainly don't know matter how much I long to come face to face with one.

You know, if you knowingly knew all this and went to one of these Thai parks and told me about it down the pub. I'd break your nose. I really can't think of anything lower.

I have no sympathy what so ever to what happened to this guy. This crap needs to stop and it needs to stop now.