Up Close and Personal With a Beast - Tiger Kingdom Style

Following the trend of getting some personal time with giant creatures in Chiang Mai, I decided to push my luck some and go extreme at Tiger Kingdom.  With Kirsty and Poi from No Place to Be as my companions, it was time to play with some kitties.  Tigers, to be exact.

Against all Western and personal notions of safety standards, an array of tiger experiences were at our disposal.  The park, which houses well over 40 tigers of various sizes, allows you to spend some quality time with the animals based on size.

The smallest and most cuddliest (2-3 months old) are also the most expensive. At a price of 520 baht per person (~$17.33 USD) for 10 minutes of time in the group.  The next largest size (6 months), designated "small," retailed for the same price at 15 minutes of play time.  Medium and Large tigers (1 and 1.5 years respectively) were available at a reduced price 320 baht (~$10.66 USD) for 15 minutes each.

Of course, making the effort to the camp would be silly without playing with the babies.  So we decided on a package that included the smallest, small, and large tigers for a discount price of 100 baht off.  The first round: baby tigers.  No larger than a large terrier, the baby tigers are nothing short of adorable.  When asleep you are able to hold, cuddle, and pet them to your hearts content.  When awake, it is play time, and the little guys will romp around the cage with chew toy going after anything that moves, which happened to be my leg.  Sadly little tiger, I am not food. 

After about 15 minutes, well in excess of our purchased time, we were taken to the next largest tiger.  For a tiger, the age gap between 3 and 6 months must be like puberty years, as the designated small tigers had a full enclosure and weigh in excess of 40 kg. 

While playing with the medium ones we were able to get to hug, lay on, and get a little too touchy feely than should be considered safe in other countries.  All while snapping pictures of the entire process. 

A quick burst of reality set in as the neighboring cage, which houses the off limits 2 year olds, erupted in a frenzy when two tigers had a little jumping war on each other.  Knowing it was time to head to the large tigers, a bit of panic began to set in.

When reaching the large tiger cage, we were informed that once tigers become 2 years old they are sent to zoos as they are too aggressive for visitors to play with.  So instead we get to enjoy a couple 1 to 1.5 year olds for about 20 minutes. 

For most of the large tiger experience, they just slept as we had our way with them.  Only to awake by the occasional prodding with play things from the keepers.  One lung with jaws wide open, and the fear is back instantly as we are continually reminded that these are beasts, no matter how cuddly they may be.

Unfortunately I am not convinced that the tigers are not drugged in order to endure the onslaught of continual tourists touching and prodding.  While they are more awake and moving throughout the night, if my own experiences are comparable, the minute someone wakes me up from a deep sleep I am in attack mode.  How tigers can be more passive, I am not sure.  

Regardless of this, the trip to Tiger Kingdom was quite a rush, and it was refreshing to see that the creatures are taken care of well by the dozens of staff members that are continually on site.  Now if I could only get the job as baby care giver and feed the newborns milk every day, that would be a rush.