As if there wasn’t enough sad news about zoo animals this week, Bangkok’s famous Tiger Temple was found to be holding forty dead tiger cubs in a freezer on Wednesday.
CBS News reported that the authorities discovered the cubs while they were removing live, adult tigers from the Wat Pha Luang Ta Bua temple. The monks had been assailed with accusations for years that they were involved in over-breeding and illegal trafficking of the animals.
Tiger Temple was a Thailand tourist attraction, whose website offered guests “Breakfast with Monks and Tigers.” Visitors could also feed or help exercise the large felines.
In 1999, the Buddhist temple was given one abandoned tiger and from there, acquired a lot more. They became a full-fledged zoo for the oversized felines, counting nearly 167 on their premises by April 2015. However, since 2001 the temple has faced a lot of animal welfare and legal issues, CBS reports.
The remaining 137 tigers are being taken to different shelters until they can be placed elsewhere. Meanwhile, the monks maintain that they didn’t do anything wrong, claiming they kept the cubs that died near birth in the freezer as proof that they were not trafficking the animals. Either way, we’re glad the tigers are moving to more suitable homes—and also crying for the baby cubs.