National park department plans to further increase tiger population

BANGKOK, July 14 (TNA) -- The Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation is satisfied with the growing population of Thai tigers amid the continuous decline in the number of global tigers. It plans to increase the local population by 50% within 2022. Thanya Netithammakun, director-general of the department, said Thailand was among 13 countries that were the habitats of tigers and there were about 200 tigers in the country. He said the local tiger population is the densest and is steadily growing on western forests along the Tenasserim Range because threats to tigers have been reduced. Officials have effectively protected forests, meaning that the habitats and food sources of tigers are secured. The effective protection would expand to Khao Yai, Dong Phayayen and Thap Lan forests that used to accommodate a large number of tigers, Mr Thanya said. There are 12 fully grown tigers and six cubs. Mr Thanya said that park rangers recently found many tigers earlier believed dead in Umphang and Huai Kha Khaeng forests. Three cubs aged one year and four months of a female tiger that was killed in 2013 have been seen fully grown. They include two male tigers that already have their own territory and the other is female. The finding was a big surprise because tiger cubs aged under two years rarely survived without a mother, Mr Thanya said. He attributed that to effective forest protection. The national park department chief said he was confident that the local tiger population could rise by 50% within 2022 due to the implementation of a national plan to increase the Thai tiger population. His department will conduct activities to promote the conservation of tigers together with other countries on the International Tiger Day on July 29, he said. (TNA)