A wildlife sanctuary in Thailand has recently enjoyed the sighting of six tigers, of which there was a mother with two cubs. This has been the first time in three decades that there has been an increase in the number of Indochinese tigers in the Salak Phra Wildlife Sanctuary in central Thailand. Experts haven’t expected to find tigers in this area of protected forests and the video indicates the population might be on the rebound. One of the reasons for the return of the tiger could be the renewed presence of wild cattle.
Poaching is still a high threat for these endangered predators and Thailand has been trying to suppress the situation through tough penalties to the convicted wild tiger killers. A prison sentence of 5 years was recently given to five local poachers who trapped and killed a tiger and her cub last year in the national park.
The national park’s predators number only about 150 in the wild, even though the country has the largest population of Indochinese tigers across its national parks and wildlife sanctuaries. Thailand has become one of the last strongholds of Indochinese tigers in South East Asia because neighbouring Cambodia and Laos have declared the species extinct. The Thai sighting provides conservationists hope for their future survival in the country.