Why did 72 tigers die at a Thailand tourist park in under 2 weeks?

The deaths of 72 captive tigers at a private park popular with tourists in northern Thailand have renewed scrutiny of a lucrative industry that campaigners warn treats wild animals as “entertainment”.The outbreak at Tiger Kingdom in Chiang Mai began in early February, with authorities initially attributing the deaths to canine distemper – a virus carried by dogs but often fatal to big cats. A deeper investigation is under way, with some medical experts suspecting contaminated food may have been the cause.The park – a favourite with foreign visitors from China, India and Russia, especially – promotes itself as offering a rare chance to take photos and interact up close with tigers and their cubs.It follows a business model seen across Thailand’s tourist areas, but one that has also courted controversy for breeding wild animals only to confine them for their entire lives in cages, brought out for Instagrammable moments costing visitors upwards of US$30.A tourist takes a photo with a captive tiger at Tiger Kingdom in Chiang Mai. Photo: Instagram“This tragedy highlights the extreme vulnerability of captive wildlife facilities to infectious disease,” the Thailand" class="entity-link entity-organization" data-entity-id="35540" data-entity-type="organization">Wildlife Friends Foundation Thailand said in a statement.