Volunteer at Tiger Temple Thailand

It was a very interesting experience. Overall there were a lot of bad rumours surrounding the place that were incorrect. Whilst the place is not perfect, the animals were treated well for Thai standards.
This is a place where Thai people work and so there are afew issues with local staff that let the place down. Although interaction with the animals was amazing. We were left with Cubs (6months and older) on our second day. Whilst I had experience with animals and was fine in dealing with them, others with less experience would struggle (although experience is required when applying).
It is also not run by an outside cooperation and therefore the monks (as it is a temple as well as an animal park) had control over decisions concerning the animals- which was the main problem.
A lot of improvement could be done to the place on the grounds and in educating the people.
They also had a lot of conservation goals that were 'in progress' although they had no real action plan to implement their ideas. All funds from the park went back into feeding the animals leaving no room for conservation goals to be achieved. The biggest problem was overpopulation, which was unable to be controlled properly, again due to the monks influence on the place. Therefore it really was a tourist attraction rather than a conservation and education program for the public.
Public information was also not reinforced to the guests, as there were a small number of staff trying to get through as many people as possible in order to keep the park running. Much more effort could have gone into educating people about ways to actually help conserve the Tigers in the wild.
Overall the animal interaction was amazing although there were a lot of issues with the place. Safety also was not taken 100% as it was in Thailand. So not for the faint hearted or a first project/ interaction with dangerous animals.