Tiger, tiger, burning dull

I have had the privilege of seeing a tiger in the wild. I was in Nepal, on top of an elephant, and we had spent a couple of hours tracking a tiger from a rather bloody recent kill to a clearing where it sat in the open perusing us.

I have a photo somewhere but I don’t need it, the moment is burned in my memory. The elephants were shifting around nervously in a manner that said they would like to move somewhere else as soon as possible. The tiger just gave a look which said “If you idiots would care to come down off those elephants, I’ll be fucking having you Jimmy”, (for some inexplicable reason this tiger seemed to come from Glasgow).

It was serene and menacing, and nothing like the poor tiger I encountered at Nong Nuch this morning. Dragged out of a tiny cage, this sad creature was available for tourists to pose for photos (for a price). The keeper kept having to lift its head, clearly it had been heavily drugged to ensure it did not ravage all around it, which it would have been perfectly entitled in doing.

Sad.

Comments 🔗

2009-05-26 | Pete, frogblogger says

Drugged or hammered into docility (elephants via the phajaan ’training’ method), practices that need a bit more adverse publicity so the Thais start to have second thoughts about their methods. Money talks, if the reality of what goes on starts to put the tourists off they’ll think again…

2009-05-28 | Moonman says

Pathetic is more like it!

They should shackle the trainer (and the manager of Nong Nuch) in the cage and let the tiger have his way over a long weekend.

Tourists could then take pictures of the aftermath on Monday morning…for a fee a course.

2009-05-28 | Spike says

I would pay to photograph that.

2009-05-28 | Pete, frogblogger says

There’s a excellent and hilarious French ditty by songwriter composer Brassens, about a gorilla that escapes and ‘has its way’ with a succession of people. Not quite in the same sense though…

I would definitely pay to photograph that…

2009-05-28 | Spike says

Being French, I suspect you would pay to get involved…..

2009-05-30 | Billy says

Vive la difference!!