In Asia, a nightmare big cat breeding facility has been closed. Now the animals need moving to safety. |
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Dear friends,
We have just helped rescue 15 elderly and sick tigers and leopards from a condemned breeding mill in Thailand and likely helped save them from death. But there are up to 15 critically endangered Indo-Chinese leopards and sick and elderly tigers that still need rescue right now or face life in a zoo (if they survive).
These are wild creatures who have lived chained and beaten their entire lives. |
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Credit: ASI/Debby Querido |
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We are racing against the clock to help raise funds to get the old, sick cats to safety – it is their LAST CHANCE FOR SURVIVAL!
Please HELP NOW! |
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Last year, we told you that a horror big-cat breeding facility in Thailand had been shut down, and its resident cats were in urgent need of relocation to our partner sanctuary.
We were there in December when the first 15 rescued big cats arrived at Wildlife Friends Foundation Thailand (WFFT). Some were so sick, weak, tortured and emaciated that even one more day’s delay in their relocation could have made the difference between life and death. |
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Our team was shattered to see the state of the big cats rescued from a condemned breeding facility in Thailand…
… BUT...
… MORE TIGERS and LEOPARDS REMAIN THERE – we MUST GET THEM OUT! |
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Two leopards and 13 tigers have now arrived at our partner’s rescue center in Phetchaburi in varying states of malnourishment and illness, BUT more remain at the breeding facility – animals quite possibly like Salamas. |
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Salamas spent some 20 years in isolated captivity – likely relentlessly bred, malnourished, abused and chained. |
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The state of Salamas – a tiger who should have walked tall and proud – broke us all.
Lying on hay in an observation room at WFFT, her body was so sunken she looked like a floor rug. When she finally mustered the strength to stand, we could count every bone in her body.
Astonishingly, the WFFT team had not sedated Salamas before relocating her, afraid her body would not withstand sedation. Instead, they had gently encouraged her out of her prison cell into a transport crate - and she complied. She could barely lift a paw. |
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Salamas was in such a shocking condition, the fight to save and care for her continues a month after her rescue. Credit: ASI/Debby Querido |
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While her full history will never be known, it is likely Salamas lived alone in a concrete cell for around 20 years. She had never felt the sun on her back or grass beneath her paws. She would have had every one of her babies snatched from her right after birth - cubs are used as photo props for tourists, and then ultimately sold to trophy hunters or killed for their “valuable” meat and bones - and never given the opportunity to live free as a wild animal should.
Despite being kept captive and thus entirely reliant on her keepers, it is clear she did not receive the critical medical care and nutrition she needed. |
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Credit: Ryan Moehring/USFWS |
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The Thai authorities have granted our partner permission to rescue the next group of tigers and leopards, though they have not specified how many. What we know for sure is that the more we raise, the more we can save.
How many more like Salamas are desperately clinging to life as you read this?
One of our greatest concerns is that the owners of the facility are simply letting the animals waste away, as there is no longer any financial benefit to keeping them alive, as their operations have been shut down.
There is no knowing just how much the animals have suffered and continue to suffer, but the pictures speak a thousand words. |
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Some of the big cats still awaiting rescue from a condemned breeding facility in Thailand. Credit: VietnamNet |
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The Thai big-cat trade that will turn your stomach... |
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Thailand is notorious for keeping wild animals captive. Big cats are bred to be tourist attractions, or for their body parts used in “traditional Chinese medicines.” Whiskers are worn as “protective” charms, and the animals’ penises are peddled as “sexual tonics.” Skins are trophies, worn as ostentatious shows of wealth. |
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In the most stomach-churning cases, infant tiger cubs are boiled alive, as sick people believe the greater their fear and pain when dying, the more “potent” the effects of consuming them will be. |
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At our partner sanctuary, rescued big cats – who tragically lack the survival skills to return to the wild – live in spacious, grassy enclosures with water features, stimulation and company. They receive expert veterinary care and nutrition, and are finally able to live as close to how they would in the wild as possible. It is the very least they deserve after decades of abject suffering. |
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Please help us get the next group of captive cats to safety right away. The more we raise, the more animals we can save, so donate as much as you possibly can today. |
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Saving animals and the planet,
 Campaign Director
Animal Survival International |
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P.S. Big cat breeding facilities have increased rapidly over the past 15 years across Asia, despite opposition by non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and calls to end commercial tiger breeding and phase out these brutal farms. We are delighted that at least one fewer of these facilities now exists, but without your help today, we cannot get its captive cats to safety. Please, help us free them! Donate as much as you possibly can right away. |
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