86 tigers that were rescued from Wat Pa Luang Ta Bua or the Tiger Temple of Thailand, have died in 3 years since they were rescued.

The Buddhist Temple Kanchanaburi Province was considered as one of the best tourist attractions in the country as visitors were allowed to take photos with tigers and were also allowed to bottle-feed them for 600 Thai Bhat.

But in 2016, officials seized 147 tigers after they received a number of animal trafficking complaints.

The police raided the temple and found 40 tiger cubs inside a freezer, and other animal body parts were frozen.

The monks at the Buddhist temple denied the claims of animal trafficking and illegal breeding.

After being removed from the temple, the 147 tigers were brought to 2 animal sanctuaries. But sadly, 86 of them have passed away.

According to the officials, most of the tigers died due to a virus they got during the relocation. It is reported that the tigers were weekend due to stress.

Authorities said the tigers had a genetic problem that was caused by inbreeding.

During an interview with MCOT, Prakit Vongsrivattanakul, the Deputy Director-General of the Department of National Parks Wildlife and Plant Conservation, said, “When we took the tigers in, we noted that they had no immune system due to inbreeding. We treated them as symptoms came up.”

According to Pattarapol Maneeorn, a wildlife veterinarian for the Department of National Parks Wildlife and Plant Conservation, said, “There were six tigers [originally at the temple] and later that became 147 or even more, so there were always the risks and also we found that their health were not good to begin with.”

He added, “Their genetics have made their body weak and susceptible to the risk of infection.”