It’s a common sight on dating app Tinder – countless profile pictures of people confidently posing next to a tiger, eager to show off their bravery to potential matches.

Many are likely to have visited Thailand’s most infamous Buddhist Tiger Temple, where monks allow hundreds of tourists to pose with its big cats.

However, in recent years various scandals have rocked the monastery. In 2008, wildlife charity Care for the Wild International released a report called “Exploiting the Tiger”.

The document uncovered disturbing evidence of serious conservation and animal welfare concerns, including systematic physical abuse of the tigers held at the temple, and high-risk interactions between tigers and tourists.

My chap picked up the tiger’s tail, plonked it in my hand and encouraged me to pretend it was a microphone…

Theories about why the tigers are so docile are widely circulated. Accusations of sedating the tigers have been consistently denied by the temple.

Vice recently reported that the Thai government raided the facility and impounded more than 100 tigers on suspicion of animal trafficking.

Lucy Uren, 25, visited the Tiger Temple in 2010 with a group of travellers she met.

She hadn’t heard much about the Tiger Temple before she arrived. After briefly being left to read some information about the temple, the group was led to a small quarry, where six tigers were lying in the shade, each chained to a rock, and monks in orange robes were waiting.

After being assigned a monk, she was led up to a tiger to take pictures. “My chap picked up the tiger’s tail, plonked it in my hand and encouraged me to pretend it was a microphone, and then snapped a few pics,” she says.

Leaving the venue, she felt guilty. “I wanted to believe that the animals were well treated by the monks, but seeing such beautiful wild animals chained to a rock for hundreds of tourists to have photos taken with them all day didn’t encourage these beliefs.”