{{Short description|Former zoo in Chonburi, Thailand}} [[File:Srirachaentry.jpg|thumb|Entrance of Sri Racha Tiger Zoo]] [[File:Tigersriracha.jpg|thumb|A tiger at Sri Racha Tiger Zoo]] The '''Sriracha Tiger Zoo''' was a zoo in [[Si Racha|Sri Racha]], a city on the outskirts of [[Pattaya]], a seaside city in [[Chonburi Province]], [[Thailand]]. It was about {{convert|110|km|mi|abbr=on}} from [[Bangkok]]. The zoo claimed a large population of tigers and crocodiles.
Due to the Thai economy's collapse in 2021 as a result of the [[COVID-19 pandemic]], Sriracha Tiger Zoo had to close its doors.<ref>[https://www.thaipbs.or.th/news/content/306040 "สวนเสือศรีราชา" ประกาศเลิกกิจการ หาบ้านใหม่ให้สัตว์ 5,000 ตัว]</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2021-07-13 |title="สวนเสือศรีราชา" ปิดตำนาน 24 ปี ทยอยขนของออกจากพื้นที่ (Sriracha Tiger Zoo closes after 24 years, gradually moving things out of the area) |url=https://www.thairath.co.th/news/local/east/2139621 |access-date=2025-06-28 |website=www.thairath.co.th |language=th}}</ref>
==Internet meme== [[File:Shooting gallery in sriracha tiger zoo.jpg|thumb|Shooting gallery]] Photographs of a female tiger nursing [[Piglet (animal)|piglet]]s wrapped in tiger skin, accompanied by a fictitious story about a zoo in [[California]], were actually taken at Sriracha.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.snopes.com/photos/animals/tigerpig.asp |title=Tiger and Piglets |author=snopes.com |date=1 Jun 2006 |publisher= snopes.com |accessdate=17 July 2010}}</ref>
==Controversy== [[File:Tiger cubs feeding in siracha tiger zoo.jpg|thumb|150px|Feeding an adolescent tiger at the Sriracha Tiger Zoo]] The [[Animal Welfare Institute]] reported in 2004 that the zoo had been using tigers and elephants in circus shows, including tigers leaping through rings of fire, walking across a double tightrope, parading around a ring on their hind legs, and riding on horseback.<ref name="awi">{{cite news |title=Too Close for Comfort |first=Adam M.|last= Roberts |newspaper=AWI Quarterly |date=Winter 2005 |url=http://www.awionline.org/ht/display/ContentDetails/i/1907/pid/2506 }}</ref> AWI reported "potentially dangerous human-tiger and human-elephant close interaction", "bizarre multi-species enclosures", tigers being struck with steel poles by trainers and implications that tigers were being bred for export to [[China]].<ref name="awi"/>
[[World Animal Protection]] reported in 2016 that the tigers 'appeared in the poorest condition of all those observed in our research.'<ref name="World Animal Protection: Tiger selfies exposed: a portrait of Thailand’s tiger entertainment industry">{{Cite web|url=https://www.worldanimalprotection.org/wildlife-not-entertainers/worlds-cruellest-attractions|title = The world's cruellest attractions | World Animal Protection}}</ref>
== References == {{Reflist}}
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{{Zoos of Thailand}}
{{authority control}} [[Category:Zoos in Thailand]] [[Category:Buildings and structures in Chonburi province]] [[Category:Tourist attractions in Chonburi province]] {{zoo-stub}} {{Thailand-struct-stub}}