Horrifying moment tiger pounces on squealing piglet after Thai zoo puts two pigs in big cat’s enclosure in sick stunt for visitors
A zoo put two live piglets in a tiger’s enclosure so tourists could watch the big cat pounce on the helpless creatures.
Si Racha Zoo in eastern Thailand put on the ‘tiger chasing piglet show’ in the hope of increasing visitor numbers.
Footage shows two piglets in the left-hand side of the enclosure as 21-year-old female tiger Saimai lies watching them.
Footage then cuts to show Saimai pouncing on one of the piglets.
The tiger pins the desperate piglet to the ground with its paws as it wrapped its teeth around the squealing creature’s back.
The piglet manages to wriggle free when a zookeeper distracts the tiger after the incident on Saturday afternoon.
Footage of the bizarre stunt sparked outrage and animal welfare officers visited the zoo the next day.
They warned that the zoo’s license could be revoked if it continued to mix the animals.
Padet Laithong, Director of Wildlife Conservation, said: ‘After receiving reports from visitors, we immediately went to the Si Racha Zoo to stop the mistreatment of animals.
‘If the zoo produces these kind of violent tiger shows again, the zoo will be banned by the Department of National Parks.’
Signs around the tiger’s enclosure say she is a ‘friendly’ animal and claim that she has been raised on pig’s milk.
Pictures from the zoo also show piglets suckling on a tiger and tiger cubs feeding on pig milk.
The zoo said it has previously put the piglets in with the tiger without any problems.
However, they said they would not repeat the stunt.
Si Racha Tiger Zoo manager Matorhe Jearwae said: ‘When we heard about the complaints we rushed to the tiger zone to warn the staff not to do the “tiger chasing piglet” show again.
‘There were no piglets that were harmed by the tiger. We would like to announce that Si Racha Zoo has already taken some action against this.
‘Pigs have now been taken out of the tiger zone and we will not let the staff show this kind of entertainment ever again.
Sriracha Tiger Zoo has previously been accused of cruelty after a BBC investigation uncovered the truth about the conditions the tigers are kept in.
Undercover investigators found tiger cubs were kept in minute cages.
Fully-grown tigers here are filmed is small concrete pens with nothing to stimulate them.
