Tigers, crocodiles, camels and elephants: around 5000 animals from the Sriracha Tiger Zoo need a new home because the Thai tourist attraction has to close.
Pattaya – In Thailand, a well-known tourist attraction has to close after 24 years in the wake of the corona pandemic: The Sriracha Tiger Zoo near Pattaya is no longer able to maintain operations after being closed for months.
The approximately 5000 animals, including tigers, crocodiles, camels and elephants, are initially to be relocated to another area belonging to the park, reports the newspaper “Pattaya Mail”, citing the owners.
The zoo was opened in 1997 by a former pig and crocodile breeder. At times there were 1.5 million holidaymakers a year, mainly Chinese, Indians, Vietnamese, Indonesians and Russians.
No foreign visitors
Since the first Corona wave last year, management has tried everything to generate income, including the sale of “street food” and temporarily free entry for visitors. But since foreign guests are still not allowed to come and the number of infections continues to increase, a closure is the only way, according to the operators.
The Sriracha Tiger Zoo is not without controversy. In 2004, the American NGO Animal Welfare Institute reported that the park’s tigers and elephants were being used in circus shows. A British organization criticized in 2016 that the big cats were in poor condition and that tiger babies were separated from their mothers only two to three weeks after birth. dpa
