Tiger Stripes

My European adventure gave me experiences and memories that will last me a life time. Even now, looking back, they make me smile. But one of the most eye opening parts of my journey was the one that I never intended to take. When we sat down to book flights, my mother originally looked at going with Emirates, and spending a few days in Dubai. But our travel agent had other plans. Thai was easily the cheapest company, and with 12 hours between connecting flights, why didn't we stay there for a day or two? We were a little doubtful, but decided to go with it. Even with a night in the Sheraton, it worked out cheaper, and we figured we could spend some time by the pool relaxing in a nice hotel. Then I went home and did some research. The next day, I was back at the travel agent, to extend our stay in Thailand. I'm glad I did.

I was not prepared for Thailand. While walking around Europe was like walking around a living fantasy, Bangkok was more like a nightmare. I had come prepared for temples and traffic, but I got much more. I originally had fantasies about eating off street carts, and bartering at the markets. The reality was seeing a huge city that gave big cities a bad names. The dogs living on the street were underfed, as were most of the people. Our fancy motel inspired both guilt and relief, a way to escape the poverty that could be seen all around us. Being lower class ourselves, by our own societies standards, it was quite a novelty to be treated like what we imagined the upper class was (although I don't think the upper class giggles when they see size of their hotel room). But at the same time, it was quite sobering to think we were the upper class.

One of the most memorable times I had in our short stay, was the day we visited the Tiger Temple. I am at heart an animal lover. But it is a selfish love. I had serious misgivings about the place before we went, as the reviews made it clear that the tigers were not well cared for. But my desperation to see a tiger was far outmatched by my desire to boycott the place. Part of it was to see for myself whether or not the tigers were abused (some of the reviews were positive, which left me a little confused, I needed to judge for myself) But most of it was just a burning desire to see a tiger. Selfish I know.

Zoos make me sad. Whilst I love seeing the animals, and I know they play an important role in conservation efforts, I still don't like seeing animals in cages. My inner scientist argues that their lives are much easier and I should stop anthropomorphising them. But the other part always argues that sitting behind bars with noisy humans all around them all day is not what they were meant for. Animals are beautiful, but never quite as much as when they are free and living the lives they spent millions of years adapting for. The Tiger Temple may be an important place for conservation and protection. But it is also the biggest tourist gimmick around.

That said, again the selfish part of me won out, and we paid to pat the tigers and feed the cubs. And that is when it happened, what would become the best story I have from my travels.

I was attacked by a tiger.

It sounds dramatic. It is supposed to. How many people can say that they've looked a tiger in the eye, seen its expression change from bored to hunting, seen the intent in its eyes and known, as it dropped into a crouch that it was going to charge? Not only that, but survive? Unfortunately, or rather fortunately my tiger was only about 2 foot long. Also lucky for me, his teeth got stuck in my sleeve, rather than my skin. But it still sounds dramatic when I say I was attacked by a tiger. Even though he was only young, he was intent on killing my shirt. It took the keepers a good long while to convince him to let go. While he was intent on attacking me, he attracted all the other cubs as well, so by the end, I was being attacked on all sides by pint-sized man-eaters. You could not have wiped the smile off my face.

About 10 minutes after they had detached his teeth and claws from my shirts (and I had examined the damage which would have been more than enough to give me scars if his aim was better), it was bottle time. And this same cub who minutes before had seen me as lunch waltzed over and demanded a real meal. So we ended the day at a truce with him in my lap and a bottle in his mouth. I know he will grow up in a cage. I know he will have a life of boredom, parading around in front of tourists. It makes me sad to think that he will never get to follow his instinct which were already so well trained. But I am glad that I had the opportunity to meet him. And now, whenever someone asks me why I'm studying, why I care so much for the future of our planet, why I'm so bothered about conservation, my answer is always the same. I'm doing it for him, the tiger who attacked me. Because some things should never be put in a cage. And one day, I'm hoping to live in a world, where they don't have to.