Chthonic Wildlife Ramblings

Reflections of a heterodox conservationist

From 500 to zero- where are the Cambodian Tigers?

Monday, August 16, 2010 10:19:28 PM

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The single most important aspect of tiger conservation in Asia, has largely been the failure to reverse long-term declines. The continuous air of optimism, government plans and resolutions have all had little impact on the ongoing loss of tigers.

The Indo-Chinese subspecies ranges over Burma, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos & Vietnam (a small population likely exists in Yunnan). Ten years ago, the population estimate for Cambodia was 500 to 700 animals.

It's now been three years since anybody has spotted one in Cambodia. The consensus now is that even if there are some tigers left, there is effectively no breeding population left in Cambodia.

Link to News Story

Monday Morning Macro - Jumping SpiderIn the Beginning- Abiogenesis

Comments

Andy WilsonDudley Tuesday, August 17, 2010 2:50:07 AM

how sad

Dacotah Tuesday, August 17, 2010 3:27:34 AM

sad

Chthoniidchthoniid Sunday, August 22, 2010 5:25:33 AM

For the Cambodian population, I think it's just the usual threats. Tigers need big areas to maintain viable populations and these areas need lots of prey. There aren't a lot of these areas left. Even if you can dissuade poachers from taking tigers, the loss of smaller prey (deer etc) within the forests hurts.

Policing effort within Cambodia against poachers has also been very ineffective, so poachers (often indigenous hunters) have had long, successful careers. As far as I can tell, most poaching is a result of locals treating tigers as pests (big predators that take their livestock & children), and for their skins and possibly bones.

The demand for aphrodisiacs is pretty minor, and I think just a side effect of the main poaching efforts.

Vedran KrokarArakanY Saturday, September 11, 2010 10:08:42 PM

I still want to believe that there are a few breeding tigresses left. But the fact is, since the extinction of the South China tiger in the wild, the Indochinese tiger became the most threatened of them all. Due to costs, coordinated ex-situ breeding programs that include European and American zoos exist for Sumatran and Amur tigers only; however, both of the latter have functional wild populations. The Indochinese, on the other hand, is on the verge of extinction in four of the six countries within its range. While I strongly believe that the efforts to protect wild habitats must take precedence, and are far more cost-effective than ex-situ programs, perhaps it is also time to consider an ex-situ breeding program with captive individuals from Phnom Tamao, Vientiane and Hanoi zoos, so those "eastern" bloodlines of the Indochinese tiger can be preserved?

Chthoniidchthoniid Monday, September 13, 2010 12:57:02 AM

Yes, there is a chance that there is some relic population holding on. I wouldn't discount the odds entirely.

The Indo-Chinese subspecies sadly, is often neglected by conservation organisations relative to say, the Bengali or Amur. I tried to make this point ahead of last years GTF at Kathmandu. The Indo-Chinese also has the problem it's been split with the Malayan tiger now, and makes the bulk of the bone-exports into Southern China (via Yunnan). The trade routes there have been very well developed for centuries.

The Sumatran is also in a very worrisome state.

I agree we are at a point where a much more aggressive approach to ex situ breeding needs to be discussed. The whole in situ strategy has done little to prevent the ongoing declines.

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