Animal Corridors, Movement & Range Expansion

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Eastern Thailand tiger footage offers renewed hope for big cat population

*This image is copyright of its original author

 Justhine De Guzman Uy
1 week ago

Three Indochinese tigers inspect a camera trap under a tree in Thailand’s Dong Phayayen-Khao forest (Freeland Foundation) 

*This image is copyright of its original author

There is renewed hope for Asia’s wild tiger population with images from camera traps similar to those captured in the video above recording showing tiger cubs in Thailand’s Dong Phayayen-Khao Yai (DPKY) forest.

Published in Biological Conservation, the survey has provided conservationists and authorities with hope that the decade-old DPKY Tiger Recovery Project (TRP) may meet its goal of increasing the local tiger population by 50 per cent by 2026.

It is currently believed that there are only 221 Indochinese tigers in ASEAN — in Thailand and Myanmar — with local populations in Lao PDR, Vietnam, and Cambodia believed to already be extinct.
According to the researchers, the population density in the area of the study is only 0.63 tigers per 100 square kilometres (about 39 sq.miles) — much lower than other habitats.

*This image is copyright of its original author

A previous study in Thailand’s Western Forest Complex (WEFCOM) in Huai Kha Khaeng between 2005 and 2012 estimated a density ranging from 1.27 to 2.09 tigers per 100 kilometres.

While differences in study methodology makes exact comparisons difficult, there is at least suggestion of an improvement in the DPKY population.

Monitoring crucial to preventing local extinctions

For this study the researchers said they used a spatially explicit capture-recapture (SECR) analysis. Yet, with few tigers out there, reliable results were difficult.
In this situation, they said simulations and the use of non-regular trap arrays may be beneficial.

Lead author of the study and a researcher with WildCRU, Eric Ash, said that to avoid local extinctions similar to those in Laos & Cambodia “monitoring is critical for managers to evaluate populations over time and determine the efficacy of conservation actions.

“It can also determine areas of conservation priority in which protection efforts can be focused”.

Classified as endangered on the IUCN Red List, Thailand’s tigers are under increasing pressure from agricultural reclamation, illegal logging, and poaching for tiger parts. Reply