The story of tiger temple began in 1999 when an orphaned male cub was brought to the Abbot of this temple. He could not turn it away so the cub stayed. There were no other places in Thailand to bring orphaned cubs so the Abbot decided that this temple would welcome tigers.

Deforestation, habitat loss and the ongoing poaching problem in the Thai/Burma border has increased the number of orphaned cubs. There are now 15 tigers at the temple and the Abbot is raising funds to buy land from the surrounding area to build a suitable and larger living space for the tigers.