Tiger Kingdom

The Tiger Kingdom is a world-famous breeding facility for tigers, located in Mae Rim, Chiang Mai. Tigers and lions are raised in captivity here. One of the overarching themes of conservation education is that conservation always entails tradeoffs.

With wild tiger and lion populations dropping at alarming rates, keeping a population in captivity becomes increasingly important. It maintains interest in conservation while keeping the species alive and procreating with the possibility of reintroducing future offspring into the wild.

Still, we must carefully choose which breeding facilities to support. Unfortunately, some of the tiger facilities in Thailand are understood to drug or de-claw their animals to make them calmer for visitors.

Our experts have visited The Tiger Kingdom multiple times, spoken with the staff there, and examined their facilities at length. We are confident that the tigers are not drugged and are treated kindly and kept in good health. The staff is exceptionally knowledgeable and are truly invested in the animals for whom they care.

We'll have the chance to sit with tigers of all ages, interacting with the youngest ones. Watching them learn the motions that would support them in the wild, prowling and pouncing, is really amazing. Just one look at their growing feet and teeth reminds you that these adorable guys, while they move like house cats, are really tigers.

The visit, of course, sparks an important debate: how should we feel about animals being held in captivity? Of course we would rather these animals be free and have no interaction with people. But, without government support and with no wild habitat in which to live, the alternatives are grim. Bred for captivity, these tigers' interactions with people fund their livelihood. In the next few years, the Tiger Kingdom will open a sanctuary in which these tigers can interact with only one another.

We will spend a morning at the tiger kingdom. Students will be able to enter the animal enclosures with the handlers and spend time with baby tiger or lion cubs, young tigers, and full-grown tigers. Students may pet the animals and will have extensive opportunities to observe, photograph, and be photographed with the tigers.

The handlers will explain to us how the facility operates and the important conservation role it serves in the region. The chance to be this close to tigers of all ages, in a safe but ecologically sustainable environment, is truly once in a lifetime.