Beyoncé Knowles instagram picture of her family petting a tiger cub in Thailand has enraged conservationists and opened the debate about what lies behind the tourist smiles. Read our blog about what lies behind the closed doors of tiger tourism here: http://bit.ly/BehindTouristSmiles
When we first discovered that we could visit tiger “sanctuaries” in India and Thailand we were thrilled at the prospect of being able to spend some time with the beautiful beasts, petting their massive bodies, and experiencing the power they exude.
We decided to do more research on these “sanctuaries” before making the decision to visit one as we do with any place that claims to promote the well being and care of animals.
There was a 2 year investigation done by CWI (Care for the Wild International) that revealed disturbing animal abuse and tiger trafficking at the tiger temple in Kanchanaburi, one of Thailand’s premiere tourist destinations. We didn’t want to just take their word for it, so we decided to do our own investigating.
