Contract found at Tiger Temple may connect abbot to illegal wildlife trade with Laos

Wildlife officials today unearthed a document that may tie the Tiger Temple to a wildlife trafficking ring that supplies tigers to the black market.

Adisorn Nuchdamrong, deputy director-general of Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation (DNP) alerted the police before announcing that authorities are in possession of a photocopy of a contract for breeding tigers that they found during the raid, and subsequent removal, of 147 tigers from the temple last week.

Adisorn noted that the contract was signed by the temple’s abbot, Phra Wisutthi Sarathera, and another party in Laos. The contract is another sign that the temple could have been involved with the illegal tiger trade, according to the Bangkok Post.

Authorities are still awaiting DNA test results for both live tigers and cub remains found at the temple. They need the tests to check for further possible involvement with tiger trafficking.

So far, the DNP has filed eight charges against the abbott and temple. The DNP has requested that the police continue to follow up with the disappearance of three tigers in December 2014 and see if those missing tigers are connected to this latest development.

In late 2014, three adult tigers went missing and 13 others were found to not have microchips. Efforts made to find those tigers returned no results.

Tigers were first found being illegally kept at the temple in 2001. The DNP tried to remove the seven big cats living there but relented after being shown the animals were being cared for by the monks. That number grew over the years to 147. All of the tigers were moved to Ratchaburi last week.

Deputy national police chief Pol. Gen. Chaloemkiat Sriworakhan has been assigned to the case. He promised on Monday to investigate possible connections between the two cases.

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