The news of Sangtewans death was/is devastating. I feel a pain so deep, it is hard to write.
Sang was born in 1999 and she was one of the founding tigers of the Temple. The Temple said that she was a ‘rescued orphan’, and that her parents were killed by poachers.
The reality – Sangtewan’s parents lived in a tiger farm in Laos, the Temple bought her through the wildlife trade, and made her into a breeding machine, never to live in anything more than in a rusted cement cell with her sole purpose to breed and breed and breed.
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Sang was easily recognised by the missing triangular piece of skin on her nose, a human inflicted torturous injury. First I was told it was a gun shot wound (lies) Ive seen a few gun shot wounds and this didint come close. The precision cut of the injury was human made. Then I was told she tore her nose on barbed wire, no not true. And then I got told the most believable story, the one that matched the injury. Sang was a fiesty young tiger and in order to control her, they cut this triangular piece out of her nose (septum). His was the most sensitive area and after the gruesome hacking, when she was fiesty all they had to do was hit her nose and she would reel in pain.
Pain was going to become something that Sang would live with for her entire life.
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In the early days of the temple, and before the heinous greed of the Temple took over, Sang was able to walk around outside. There was only 8 tigers there then and more time and patience was given to them, a bit more. The Temple had no knowledge of how to raise captive animals and while they were young and cute, they were taken out and about.
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But violence was never far from their lives and the “discipline” was harsh. Chains, punches, kicks, heavy wooden rods and of course the mutalations was the way these creatures were trained.
“Westerners dont understand the Eastern Way” – I had that said to me repeatedly. I understood clearly, and I also grew to understand that they had shunned the Buddhist faith and revered laws of treating animals with humanity. I understood that they were not like other humane ‘eastern’ Buddhists, I understood they were liars.
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When Sang became of breeding age, that was the beginning of the pattern of her life. Sangtewan was locked inside a rusting cement cell, never to be let out again, and who’s only use was to breed.
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The only times she was content inside the cell was when she had given birth to her cubs on the stinking filthy cement. The expression on her face and her demeanour was love and contentment. You should have seen how she cared so gentley for her cubs, this beautiful girl. Her peace with her cubs was a sight to see.
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But this peace never lasted long. In 2007, Sang was allowed to have a litter of her cubs for the longest period of time. Everyone thought the temple had changed their ways, that they wouldnt trade. We were all wrong. I watched her 4 month old cubs be taken from her in the middle of the night and lost to the wildlife trade. They were taken to a tiger farm in Laos, to breed, for the heinous false Chinese Traditional Medicines. They would be grown and killed for their body parts.
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I shudder knowing what became of them, and so should the Temple, but they didnt and dont.
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For most of Sangtewans other litters, she was given 7 – 12 days with them, then they were taken and thrown into harsh cement cells to fend for themselves, fed whenever staff got around to it.
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One of the worst things was that Sang could hear them screaming and she mourned and grieved and then she got angry. She wanted to get to them. The staff hated when Sangtewan was like this, and to shut her up, Sang was abused physically and punished by getting no food.
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But over the years, the volunteers that came to the temple would see all this, and we sneaked food to Sang. Lots and lots and lots of food, and it was MEAT… 
The Temple never knew that, they do now….
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Due to her normally horrendous diet, the lack of exercise, enrichment, sunlight everything, Sangs eyes began to fade in 2006. By 2010 she was basically blind and she would smell her way around her cage, and care for her litters blinded. But always the peace was with her for those 7 days.
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As she grew older and frailer, she would gentley come up as we gave her some (sneaked in) food and take it from our hands. Sometimes she accidently nipped your fingers and she knew immediately and released and visually looked as if she was saying ‘sorry for the nip, I cant see’.
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I have tears streaming down my face knowing and remembering her life.
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Towards the end, Sangtewan suffered from untreated kidney infections (same as Phayru) and other horrid things. She suffered.
This dear girl, at the end of her life had delivered 46 litters of cubs from the age of 3 years old – 11 years old. Each litter was between 2 – 4 cubs, at minimum Sang gave birth to 138 cubs (averaging 3 cubs per litter).
You can imagine her ravaged body.
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But what I found out about the actions of the Temple, left me without doubt that they have lost all humanity and do not carry out the words and teachings of Buddha.
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While Sangtewan could still be saved with veterinary care, the Temple chose to instead begin to build a “Memorial Monolith” for her. She was alive, and they were building a massive muli million dollar infrastructure to honor her in death. While she was alive and could be saved…….
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Millions of dollars were poured into a large structure resembeling Sangtewan (missing nose piece included) while the living Sang suffered in agony in her cage.
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Fury is a very tame word to describe how I feel knowing this.
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Sang dragged her body around her cement cage for 11 years.
One night she lay down, and inside her body all of her systems shut down.
She closed her eyes, moaned, and was gone.
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I believe in God, and I believe that she is in heaven. I have to believe that, its the only peace she has ever had.
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Carved into my soul beautiful girl, so grateful that I know you
Rest in peace dear Sang, no more pain
xoxoxo
Sybelle 2012
Lovely lady xoxo my friend I miss you xoxo
When she lost her sight, she smelt and touched her way along everything
Here she is jumping up on the only form of enrichment she had.
Hello Girl
Having a talk xoxo
Sangtewan is the tiger on the cover of the book “Behind the Cloak of Buddha”
Sang and one of her last litters RIP in peace beauty xoxo
