These days Wat Pa Pavanadhran is looking more like a scene from Animal House than a temple. According Phra Kanchit Khantidhrammo, the abbot of the Prachin Buri based temple, the monks are corralling wild and abandoned animals. However this arrangement is putting a heavy strain on the monks.
The temple is currently home to 4 monkeys, 3 pythons, 3 turtles, 10 rabbits, a number of wild pigs and 50-odd dogs and cats. With upwards of 70 animals under the temple’s care they are stretched beyond capacity.
Kanchit stated that, “We cannot deny them. The only thing that we can do is receive these animals and feed them, but now the temple can no longer feed them as we don’t have enough food,”
In the past the temple had the resources to return the wild animals to their habitats, but as the animal population continues to rise the monks can no longer remove the unwanted guests. The temple is hoping that community members will step forward to help gather and release the animals back into their habitats.
Reported by The Nation
