For many, Thailand is a top tourist destination, it had certainly been on my bucket list for some time. I was thrilled to be asked by renowned photojournalist Aaron Gekoski and the team at Four Corners Film and Photography to join them for the Thailand leg to film scenes for DETHRONED, our joint documentary with Terra Mater exposing the relationship with big cats and their commercial exploitation at our hands.

Having worked in the animal welfare sector for 14 years, I knew the country’s tiger tourism industry would be confronting — but nothing prepared me for the reality of seeing these majestic, iconic animals beaten and reduced to photo props or circus performances for pitiful human entertainment.

We visited several so-called 'sanctuaries' and zoos where tigers are marketed as calm, approachable, and safe for tourists to pet or pose with. These settings are anything but natural. The tigers — apex predators by nature — are kept in barren concrete enclosures, often tethered by short chains or confined to cages with little space to move. I saw row upon row of urine-soaked cages with tigers all of which were malnourished and pacing — kept like livestock. Their lives so far removed from the lush forests they would inhabit in the wild. Tigers being well known as solitary animals, meaning these groupings are unnatural and psychologically stressful.

I observed the repeated, melancholy mechanical movements of imprisoned tigers; while those used for back-to-back selfies were continuously beaten and prodded by a stick. Many appeared lethargic, heads drooped unnaturally low — some likely sedated, others simply broken in spirit. One scene I will never forget involved a young tiger cub, just weeks old, being passed from tourist to tourist, it’s mother and littermates nowhere to be seen, but the stick ever present. This little cub just one on a conveyor belt of cubs intensively bred for all over the country ready to fuel the demand for tourist experiences.

Unfortunately, tourists, seduced by clever marking and cheap prices, are normally animal lovers themselves, perhaps naive to the stories spun of mothers rejecting cubs, or thinking that the animals are part of a true breeding and conservation programme. The truth though couldn’t be further from this.

This is not conservation. This is commodification — of an endangered species already on the brink — during a biodiversity crisis. Under the guise of education or rescue, these venues fuel the demand for tiger breeding and reinforce a dangerous perception of tigers as tame and manageable; and worryingly, an acceptance of their use for instant gratification on social media. The sad reality being that none of these big cats will ever see the wild. Some of these facilities are linked to the illegal trade, where adults that become 'unprofitable' are sold off, sometimes being processed and ending up in the black market as traditional medicine and luxury goods or kept as exotic pets.

Tiger tourism in Thailand may promise once-in-a-lifetime experience — but for the animals, it’s a lifetime of suffering. As someone who has stood behind the scenes of these operations, I can say with certainty: no photo is worth the price these animals pay.

It’s time for real, radical change. That means stopping commercial breeding of big cats, ending public interactions with them, and holding facilities accountable under meaningful national and international animal welfare and trade laws. Until then, tiger tourism will remain a polished façade hiding a deeply dark and exploitative industry.