RAKYU 1

Chutima Nae Rakyu

Mr. Abel Cadias
English 10 / 10:06
June 20, 2016
Tigers Should Be Freed from Zoo
Tigers should be freed from zoos because they are poorly fed and live in small
cages. The purpose of this research report was to argue that tigers should be freed
from zoos. The importance of this research reported is to persuade the Thai
government to free tigers in zoos. The pieces of information found in this research
report were based on seven sources. First, the article entitled The Zoological Park
Organization under the Royal Patron age of H.M. the King by The Zoo Logical
Organization showed the zoo under management in Thailand. Second, the Tiger
Kingdom Thailands article entitled About Tiger Kingdom discovered the
population of tigers in zoo and wild. Third, the book entitled Tiger at House by
A.A. Milne and E.H. Shepard explained the appropriate habitat of tigers to survive.
Fourth, the news of salon.com called Tigers dont belong in zoo reported the case of
tigers in zoo. Fifth, the article of The Human Society of The United States called Big
Cat Incidents found the effect of tigers living in zoo in US. Sixth, One Green planet
in their article entitled How Life for a Circus Tiger Compares to the Life of a Wild
Tiger described that the zoo affected to tiger health. Finally, the article of Dailymail
called Thailand's controversial Tiger Temple by Becky Pemberton revealed the
possible effects on tigers of being ignored by zoo keeper.

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The Habitat of Tigers

Based on Lion.org, it explained that tigers live in many different types of
forests including tropical forests, evergreen forests, woodlands, mangrove swamps,
tall grasslands, savannas, marshes and rocky countries. Most of tigers can be found in
all part of the world, but Asia is their homeland. The largest habitat of tigers is located
in Asia (Milne and Shepard, 2003). There are a lot of tigers that can be found in the
Greater Mekong Region of Asia consisting of Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand
and Vietnam. Especially, Thailand has a lot of tigers living in the rainforest where it is
hot and dry climate like Ubon Ratchathani. The habitat of tigers should live naturally,
they should gain all factors that they need to survive in the forest (Tiger World, 2014).
According to Alina Bradford, he described the three main things that tigers
need to fulfill their life including a cover, water, and prey. Tigers need a huge area to
be their habitat because they can adapt to live in different types of environment, they
are very strict with their territory so this causes them always fight with other animals
that invade into their area. Male tigers have their territory around 60 to 100 square
kilometers (23 to 39 square miles) and female tigers have more than 20 square
kilometers (7.7 square miles), but the numbers can be changed, it depends on their
habitat and subspecies. The habitat is not only the area for living but also the area that
can move and combine with a sense of territory for them. Moreover, tigers like to live
alone, but only in the case when they have females to fertilize together. Tigers can live
any climates, however, most of the tiger habitats are near with some body of water
such as a lake, river or pond because they like to swim and they will relax in
water. The area of tigers is the place where is quiet to rest, a lot of water to survive
and a lot of prey to choose.

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The Characteristic of Tigers
Based on article of Lizza Carruthers, she explained that tigers are the fourth
biggest cat in the world. There are nine subspecies of tigers that are still alive in the
world including Bengal Tiger, Indochinese Tiger, Malayan Tiger, Sumatran Tiger,
Siberian Tiger, South China Tiger, Balinese Tiger, Javan Tiger, and Caspian Tiger. The
length of their bodies are around 1.4 to 2.8 m. Their shoulders are height around 80
and 110 cm. Also, the length of tigers tail is between 60 and 110 cm and the weight is
around 100 and 300 kg. The length of canine teeth of tigers are very large that are
around 5.5 - 6.5 cm. The color of tigers consist of dark rusty, orange to lighter yellow
and dark with dark vertical stripes but it depends on their habitat and subspecies too.
The fur of tigers depend on their habitat. If tigers live in the location where is cold,
they will have long hair to help them stay warm in winter season. Whereas, some
tigers live in the location where is hot, they will have short hair to help them be able
to live in summer season. Most of tigers have good sense and smelling for finding
their preys. Tigers are very strong animals, they are very active. Tigers are always
spending their times with water so tigers are also known as the best swimmers.
Moreover, they can run very fast around 49 - 65 km per an hour and can jump highly
around 5 m. Tigers are born with curved claws that help them to catch prey and climb
up the tree (Carruthers, 2016).

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Zoos in Thailand
There are five types of zoo including safari zoo, aquaria zoo, roadside zoo,
petting zoo and animal theme parks. But almost of zoo in Thailand that can find in
general are safari zoo, animals theme park and aquaria zoo. The zoos in Thailand
include Dusit zoo, Safari World, Khao Kheow Open zoo, Sriracha zoo, Chiangmai
zoo, Chiangmai Night Safari, Nakhon Ratchasima zoo, Phuket zoo, Songkhla zoo,
Korat zoo, Ubon zoo, Khonkaen zoo and Elephant's Paradise (Kapook, 2016).
However, Thailand has the zoos that are under management by The Zoological Park
Organization Under The Royal Patronage Of H.M. The King that consist of Dusit zoo,
Khao Kheow Open Zoo, Chiang Mai Zoo, Korat Zoo, Songkhla Zoo, Ubon Zoo,
Khonkaen Zoo and Elephant's Paradise (The zoological Park Organization of
Thailand, 2014). Tigers in zoo of Thailand come from Asia. Most of tigers can be
found in Chiangmai, Ubon Ratchatanee and Phuket that are under control by Tiger
Kingdom. Tiger Kingdom is Ubon zoo where have more 50-60 tigers in their zoo.
Moreover, Tiger Kingdom in Chiangmai and Phuket have every age of tigers
including baby tiger cubs, small tiger, medium tiger and big tiger. They have tigers
starting from 2 36 months, they give customers to close up with real tigers (Tiger
Kingdom Thailand, 2013). According to Tiger Temple Thailand in Kanchanaburi,
explained that zoo has about 12 adult tigers and 4 baby tigers cubs. There are a lot of
tigers in Zoo are chained and detained in small area. So, zoo tries to make habitat of
tigers resemble with their habitat in wild.

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The Case of Tigers Living in Cage
Tigers living in zoo can get many effects. One of the article from Susan
Maccarthy explained that the tiger of San Francisco Zoo was angry when it was
confined in small cage for a long time because it did not have things to do. Due to its
accumulated stress, it attacked three people and died. According to Cody & Giselle,
they observed and found that the tigers in Kanchanaburi temple were chained in small
cage with physical problems. Also, The Generation Awaking argued that the tigers in
Florida zoo were imprisoned in small place caused them disability to grow fully.
Moreover, the tigers in captivity were very dangerous for human when they grew up
in the future (Tiger-World, 2013). From the observation of The Human Society of The
United States Big Cat Incident, it reported that the owner of the Cricket Hollow Zoo
was attacked by his tiger. The woman in Zoo Boise was also bitten when the tiger
tried to escape out of the cage after it noticed that the door was opened. Furthermore,
when tigers lived in restrict place that would make them get physical and mental
effect and unusual behaviors more than tigers living in wild (Cronin, 2013).
Conclusion
This research report aimed to find out why tigers should be freed from zoos.
This research reported concluded that nature builds tigers with their physical character
to live only in forest where is the most proper habitat for them to survive. Moreover,
living in the zoo could cause stress to the tigers which will affect their physical and
mental health. Furthermore, other people can also got injury from them. This research
report discovered that tigers living in zoo could kill people anytime. This research
report recommends further research on how animal conservation in Thailand help
tigers to survive.

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References
Henn, C. (2015, Feb 18). How Life for a Circus Tiger Compares to the Life of
WildTiger. Retrieved (2016, 8 May) from
http://www.onegreenplanet.org/animalsandnature/lifeofcircustigerandwildtiger
/#
Mccarthy, S. (2008, Jan 5). Tigers Dont Belong in Zoo. Retrieved (2016, 12 May)
from http://www.salon.com/2008/01/05/tigers/
Milne A.A & Shepard E.H. (2003). Tiger at house. My Very First Encyclopedia
(Animals), 36-37.
Pemberton, B. ( 2015, Apr 21). Thailand's controversial Tiger Temple. Retrieved
(2016, 11 May) from http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/travel_news/article3048504/Thailand-s-controversial-Tiger-Temple-SHUT-keeping-animalswithout-permit-tigers-handed-Friday.html
The Human Society of The United States. (n.d.). Big Cat Incident. Retrieved
(2016, 9 May) from
http://www.humanesociety.org/assets/pdfs/wildlife/captive/big-catincidents.pdf
Tiger Kingdom Thailand. (2011-2013). About Tiger Kingdom. Retrieved
(2016, 10 May) from http://www.tigerkingdom.com
The Zoo Logical Organization. (2014). The Zoological Park Organization under the
Royal Patron age of H.M. the King. Retrieved ( 2016, 9 May) from
http://www.zoothailand.org/