Pattaya Tiger Zoo

Pattaya tiger zoo was one of the first things i was taken to see by my dads friend and his wife. The sculptures on entry were anything but subtle (giant 20ft tall tigers and text). This place seemed to be aimed mostly at the locals and was a few decades behind what a western audience might want (seeing the animals behaving as naturaly as possible in a space that attempts to recreate their natural habitat). It was presented well enough, but the main attraction of the zoo seemed to be the shows that involved tigers, elephants, pigs and crocodiles performing tricks . The tigers were hardly enthusiastic, you got the impresion that they were just hit with sticks repeatedly untill they performed the actions the trainers wanted. If you have ever owend or known a house cat you know how reluctant they are to follow any command you give them. The eliphants performed better, but this was probably because they more social animals and are better at learning. The crocodiles were having none of it, they were just being moved about by the zoo staff by grabbing their tails and draging them across wet tiles, they had no intention of performing any sort of trick wether they were beaten with sticks or not.
However the pigs were solving maths problems and were rewarded with food for a correct answer. I'm sure they were as happy as an animal in a zoo can be.