Tigers are native to Asia. Deforestation and farming have diminished their hunting grounds. Indonesia boasts some 400 tigers on Sumatra and Russia’s Siberian tigers are estimated to number over 300. The feline predator hasn’t so lucky in other lands. Cambodia is down to thirty with poachers actively seeking to kill the rest for Chinese and Vietnamese cusomters.
Thailand’s tiger population has been bolstered by Tiger zoos in Sri Racha, although this small reserve has allegedly sold animal parts to the Chinese, who are mad for the medicinal properties of the great cat’s bones and organs. Their lives in captivity are a pale shadow of their existence in the jungles. Experts have estimated that 250-300 tigers live in the wild forests of Thailand.
Out in the west where my daughter Angie lives, at night men drink lao whiskey around a fire. The women watch Thai soap operas. We tell stories. I asked, if any of them had seen a tiger. They pointed to the distant mountains.
“Tigers gone here. Mountain have tiger.” My brother-in-law went mushroom hunting in the jungles.
“You see one?”
“No one see tiger. Tiger see man. Eat man.” Noy shivered with fear. The only paths in the jungle are those made by wild elephants and no trails lead to the top of mountains.
“I hear tiger once. In Indonesia.” I had been staying in a small village on the West Coast south of Banda Aceh. “I heard a roar.”
I mimicked the low echoing growl.
The pi dogs in the yard started barking with alarm.
My daughter ran into the house.
“Good tiger.” My brother-in-law loved my act.
“The tiger scared me too and it was loud. I heard it in my bones.”
“Tiger big spirit.”
“The people in the village were frightened shitless. They wore masks on the back of their heads.”
“Tiger like to attack from behind.”
“Same as people.”
“Not same Thai.”
“That’s because you smile before a fight.”
“Land of Smiles. Chai yo”
We downed the rice whiskey. It burned our throats. The dogs stopped barking and the insects resumed their buzzing. The only growl was my stomach grumbling from the bootleg liquor. It was much more dangerous than a tiger. They only ate your body. Lao Khao ate your soul.
The foto is from Noong Mooch Gardens in Pattaya. The tiger is drugged with morphine. He only gets angry when he’s waiting for his man.
Same as any junkie.