Officials at a sanctuary in Thailand said on Friday they are racing to keep dozens of tigers alive after more than 80 died from disease following their confiscation from a controversial temple. The Wat Pha Luang Ta Bua temple better known as the "Tiger Temple" had for years attracted tourists with the promise of being able to pose for photos next to the big-cats.

More than half of the tigers that Thai authorities confiscated in 2016 from an infamous Tiger-Temple tourist attraction have died from a-viral-disease because their immune systems were weakened by inbreeding, media reported. The Buddhist temple west of Bangkok was a tourist-destination where visitors took selfies with tigers and bottle-fed cubs until authorities removed its nearly 150-tigers in 2016 in response to global-pressure over wildlife-trafficking.