Yesterday I had the rarest of opportunities to make a lifetime dream come true. I’ve always been a cat person, and especially fascinated by big cats. Growing up in suburban Australia doesn’t lend itself too much to personal contact with giant carnivorous animals (except fat drunken bogans), so when I discovered a Buddhist Temple in Kanchanaburi Province that harboured wild tigers roaming free around the temple grounds, I had to go.

Around six years ago some local villagers caught an adult tiger, and rather than kill it, they brought it to the “Wat Pa Luangta Bua Yanasampanno Temple” for the monks to decide what to do with it. The monks found that the tiger relaxed and felt quite at home whenever the monks were meditating, and slowly but surely allowed the tiger freedom to wander the grounds on its own.

Over time word got about the Monks’ ability to not so much tame but keep the tigers calm and happy without caging them, so more and more were brought to the temple to save the them from an untimely death. There are now about ten tigers in total, three of which are cubs born in captivity. Two of them are two months old, the other is eight months.

After a grueling three-hour bus and 30 minute taxi ride, we arrived at the temple and were promptly made to sign a disclaimer waiving any blame from the monks if we were suddenly turned into cat food. Putting any such notions of personal danger at the back of my mind, we went in and found our way to a large open quarry where about six tigers were sleeping on the ground.

Now it must be noted that the animals are not defanged, declawed or tied up in any way. Strangely enough, I wasn’t scared, just in awe of being able to get up close these incredible beasts.

Tigers are nocturnal and sleep during the day, so luckily for us, I was able to get in and walk quietly around (pussy-footed?) and touch the tigers. That is, I thought they were asleep until the monks put one tigers giant head in my lap, and it suddenly woke up as it was annoyed by a fly hovering around its nose. And that’s when things started to get a little wet in the back of the trousers.

So there I am, sitting on the ground, with a fully grown wild tigers head in my hands, angry and annoyed at me for waking it up. What would Steve Irwin do in this situation? I had no idea, so I did what I’d normally do to any cat. I grabbed its head, pulled it into my lap, and started tickling it under the chin – laughable when you think about it. Strangely enough, it seemed to work, as the tiger nuzzled up against me and made some low groaning approval noises (I hope they were) from deep within its belly.

I also got to play a little with the two kittens (who at two months were the size of and acted like bull-terriers with ADD), but the monks were extremely nervous about it and didn’t let me play anywhere near as much as I would have liked. Even at two months, they have big teeth and razor sharp claws, and could easily puncture a hole in my arm for fun. Still, it was an amazing experience I’ll never forget.

I was going to finish this story with a joke about getting more pussy this weekend than you could poke a stick at. But then I remembered my mother reads my blog, so I won’t mention jokes of that calibre, no sir. And besides, this pussy you definitely wouldn’t poke with a stick.

Wat Pa Luangta Bua Yanasampanno needs funds to finish its 30-acre sanctuary to give the tigers a permanent home in the wild. Please donate generously here