Thailand Tiger Temple: Forty dead cubs found in freezer

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Image copyrightAFP

Image captionThe temple recently made plans to operate as a zoo, but the government ruled against it

Forty dead tiger cubs have been found in a freezer at a Thai Buddhist temple accused of wildlife trafficking and animal abuse.

Police and wildlife officials started an operation on Monday to remove all the living tigers at the Tiger Temple.

Pictures from journalists at the scene posted to social media showed the 40 cubs lined up on the floor.

The site in Kanchanaburi is a popular tourist attraction but has been closed to the public since the raid.

Temple's long history of controversy

Police Colonel Bandith Meungsukhum told AFP news agency that wildlife officials would file new criminal charges after the discovery, and added that the cubs were just one or two days old when they died.

He said it was not yet clear how long they had been dead.

The dead cubs "must be of some value for the temple", Adisorn Nuchdamrong, from Thailand's Department of National Parks, told Reuters news agency. "But for what is beyond me."

Tiger bones and body parts are used in traditional Chinese medicine.

Monks at the temple were not available for comment but have previously denied trafficking allegations.