The Great Tigers of Chonburi

My heart stopped when the grown tiger ran my nephew down and leaped at him to ferociously rip his throat apart. That's a tiger's primal instinct and the size of children to them are similar to prey in the wild. This particular tiger came a few feet away from his prey today (my nephew) and slammed hard into the steel bars that cage him. Lucky for us, we were in Chonburi and we weren't in the wild hundreds of years ago because I really love my nephew.

Chonburi Province's most popular attraction is Thailand's most visited tourist destination and the party-oriented town of Pattaya. Another well-known town is Si Racha because of the famous hot sauce which is named after the small town it originates from. Si Racha also sees a number of local and foreign visitors also partly house the infamous Sriracha Tiger Zoo, home to over 200 tigers and 10,000 crocodiles.

The Sriracha Tiger Zoo is a great place where children learn about wildlife and in particular, tigers, crocodiles, and elephants. There are elementary school trips from around the country there on any given day with a mix of tourist families. People from all over the world flock to this zoo of great tigers for an opportunity to take selfies with them. The thought of feeding baby tigers and taking pictures on top of a crocodile's back is exotic to the mind. For most visitors, the Sriracha Tiger Zoo is where they can experience the next best thing to being in the jungle with these magnificent beasts.

Zoos Through the Eyes of Children

When we arrived at the Sriracha Tiger Zoo we made it just in time for the tiger show and the children in our family really wanted to see tigers. This was their first time seeing a tiger and the arena was packed with school kids on their field trips. There were only the front seats available in the circus-like arena and as we sat down, the show was already getting a roar out of the school kids. The trainers were commanding the tigers to do acts that the children had only seen on television and for most of them, this was there first time seeing a live tiger too.

After the show, our kids were still intrigued by the fierce presence of tigers so we headed to one of the zoo's tiger feeding stations. For 100 baht, the zoo gives you 2 whole chickens to feed a cage full of tigers and surprisingly for me, they didn't fight each other for the chickens. The chickens are tied to a rope much like a worm on a fishing hook (but no hook) and then lowered down to the magnificent beasts with sticks. The power of the beast could be felt as it nonchalantly grabs the chicken away but to a person, it felt viciously strong.

As we lowered the second chicken down, my niece started meowing at the gorgeous tigers. It gave us all a chuckle as we feed the second tiger but I can imagine how a 2-year-old can mistake tigers and lions as cats. In the belief of Gaia, we the people are supposed to tame and protect the animals and ecosystems of this realm. To a child without any limitations or programs set in place by the many systems that control us, starts life with the core concepts of their naturalistic abilities and limitless powers. To my niece, it was an animal on her feline list that she instinctively went to tame and protect in her 2-year-old way. "Meow..." she kept repeating. That ain't no Siamese cat, Princess...LOL.

We headed to the crocodile feeding pits next because we had a few minutes to spare before the starting of the next crocodile show. It was the same routine with the 2 chickens for 100 baht and I give the same safety warning. The crocodiles have a different type of strength but are amazing strong nonetheless. The crocodiles seemed hungrier than the tigers because as soon as the feeding station attendant grabbed some poles, a few of them moved into prime feeding position. They ate those 2 chickens like they were cough drops.

We found ourselves front row again at the crocodile show. As the show progressed, @gramurai and I joked about how nature evolved the crocodile to be the perfect killing machine over millions of years and along came a guy who pulled his tail. It's a quite funny statement if you've ever seen a crocodile show because it's artistry that relies on knowing how to pull their tails and trained commands. The climax of the show was when both trainers put their heads in a crocodile's mouth and the show ends if they both live to tell about it.

After the crocodile show, we headed next door to the pig races and to see the infamous "Calculation Pig." At first, I was confused at what I was watching because it was all conducted in Mandarin Chinese and not Thai. As I heard the Chinese tourist say some numbers I knew in Chinese, I realized the pig was doing basic math.

The announcer/host would say some things in Chinese and then randomly choose a Chinese tourist to randomly give a subtraction or addition problem. One Chinese tourist after another and each problem, the star pig would pick up the correct number in front of it. Around the fourth math problem conducted in Mandarin Chinese, was when it finally dawned on me.

The "Calculation Pig" could only understand one human language and that was Mandarin Chinese! Not only did it understand Chinese but it was doing math equations, in Chinese! I thought at my age I had seen it all and along comes a really big pig to say my life's journey just began.

Zoos Through the Eyes of an Adult

As we walked out, I was grateful to the ye kind universe seeing our children still excited about their experiences with all the animals. I remembered the same excitement that I felt visiting the Los Angeles Zoo with my brother A.J. as a kid. I know that they learned a great deal about animals and wildlife that day. All the great kid and family views made the trip worthwhile and then there's the responsible adult side of the trip.

I'm well traveled in my lifetime and have been to many zoos in a number of countries. I say they all average out to moderate living conditions at best in every country. Having "Zoos" is an issue that humanity must address because of the moderate living conditions these poor animals must endure. My trip to the Sriracha Tiger Zoo made me realize that it's a problem we must attempt to fix before the conditions are seen as cruelty to animals.

There's really no such thing as a great "state of the art" zoo. That's just ridiculous but we're a society that lives in concrete boxes ourselves. We ourselves have disconnected ourselves from Mother Nature so it's hard finding sympathy for animals because as a species, we are horrible to ourselves. We treat each other like animals so what chance do the animal animals have with us? We're supposed to be their protectors and beastmasters but our society has been programmed to put them on display for our visual amusement. Strange days we live in.

There's really no easy answer with many saying nature reserves are the only humane way forward. I'm grateful for the memories but it left me with a lot to think about. I'm sure every animal lover that leaves the Sriracha Tiger Zoo feels grateful for the experience but like me, also leaves with a lot to think about.

Authored & Photographed by:

@stewsak

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