A Temple with Thai Buddhist monks living in an isolated rural area of northern Thailand are hand-raising orphaned tigers in a bid to stop poaching. Their quest began several years ago when monks welcomed the wild tigers into their temple in Thailand after finding baby tigers dumped on their doorstep.

Traditional Chinese medicine prescribes powdered tiger bones as a remedy for rheumatism, and poachers pursue the animals for their pelts.

Now, 10 adult tigers live within the confines of the Pha Luang Tabua monastery in Thailand and monks walk among the Thai tigers every day and even play with them. The youngest of the tigers, named Fah Mai, lives un-caged, much like an ordinary pet.

The temple is located at the edge of a large forest in northern Thailand and inside the large open wooden structure, Buddhist monks wearing their traditional saffron robes sit cross-legged, meditating.

Young tiger Fah Mai watches over to the monks as they begin to consume the only meal of the day, a frugal dish of rice and a few vegetables, offered by worshippers. The young tiger sniffs at the bowls placed directly on the floor. The monks willingly share their meal, and the tigers even eats out of their hands.

Despite their affection for the tigers, the monks are aware of the increasing threat these wild cats represent to the community of visitors and pilgrims who make their way to the monastery in Thailand each year.

A number of the monks have received serious injuries, clawed by the felines, and now bear deep scars. The community is now seeking an "island" for the tigers. The local vet has proposed an 8ha lot of land to be set aside, surrounded by a wide and extremely deep canal.

This Thai tiger sanctuary would allow for the preservation of the tiger species in Thailand and permit newly orphaned baby tigers to be saved while putting a stop to the practice of poaching in Thailand.

Of the eight species of tiger once living in the wilds of South-East Asia, just five species exist today, with only about 250 of the Indo-Chinese variety still inhabiting the rain forests of Thailand.

Despite being a protected species, deforestation is progressively destroying the natural habitat of tigers in Thailand, and uncontrolled hunting will undoubtedly soon provoke the extinction of this already endangered species.