Thailand Aims To Increase Tiger Population By 50%

[webfact]

Special Report: Thailand aims to increase tiger population by 50%

BANGKOK: -- On the occasion of Global Tiger Day on July 29th, the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation (DNP) is trying to raise awareness about the reducing number of tigers in Thailand, saying it wants to increase the tiger population by 50% by 2022.

The Wildlife Conservation Office under the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation (DNP) recently held a seminar to hear the progress of tiger conservation projects. DNP Deputy Director-General Theerapat Prayurasiddhi said at the meeting that the number of tigers has dropped dramatically. It is estimated that there are only 200-250 wild tigers in Thailand. The department is aiming to see 125 more tigers in the wild by 2022 or ten years from now.

Mr Theerapat said his department will develop the Huai Kha Khaeng-Thung Yai Naresuan Wildlife Sanctuary by introducing a qualitative approach in official patrols and increasing the number of patrolling officers to match the size of forest areas under their responsibility. He added by 2022, 100 more forest protection units will be established in tiger reserve zones.

In addition, the DNP reported that over 1,300 tigers are being raised in government and private zoos, as well as wildlife breeding stations. The department has been collecting data of each tiger to be able to identify the animals and prevent their smuggling . The DNP deputy chief said Thailand has the most complete data on both wild and caged tigers.

A wildlife researcher from the Huai Kha Khaeng Wildlife Sanctuary in Uthai Thani Province reported that since 2005, his team has found 125 tigers in the Huai Kha Khaeng-Thung Yai Naresuan Wildlife Sanctuary.

Meanwhile, 11 more tigers are found in Mae Wong and Khlong Lan National Parks in Kamphaeng Phet. It is believed that more tigers can be found in other national parks of Thailand.

According to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), tigers are on top of the food chain. Its existence helps control the number of herbivores in the ecosystem. The giant predators need a habitat that contains enough water and prey animals. Fully grown tigers need around 6-7 kilograms of food per day. Over the past century, the tiger population has been decreasing drastically, affecting the ecosystem.

Tiger poaching and the reduction of their prey are the main threats for their existence. Tigers are barely seen in neighbors such as Cambodia, Laos, and Myanmar. While only around 200 are in Thai forests, it is important to help conserve the animal now before it becomes extinct.

-- NNT 2012-07-27

[Payboy]

Thailand Aims To Increase Tiger Population By 50%

Do we have enough space at the Tiger temple?

[h90]

Thailand Aims To Increase Tiger Population By 50%

Do we have enough space at the Tiger temple?

maybe it is just farming of tiger penis for the Chinese?

[Fozfromoz]

An article in another daily references curtailing tiger births in private zoos, restricting to less than 1% per year?

[Payboy]

Thailand Aims To Increase Tiger Population By 50%

Do we have enough space at the Tiger temple?

maybe it is just farming of tiger penis for the Chinese?

Chinese would be mighty pissed if this breeding initiative produces only tigresses.

Edited July 27, 2012 by Payboy

[eezergood]

I love these random numbers that are floated around by all the Thai so called agencies....

[Crazy chef 1]

Seems to me that there is (soon),an increasing demand in Chinese "medicin",according to TAT...

[Thai at Heart]

Nice of them to advertise so clearly where the tiger population lies in Thailand.

[BirdsandBooze]

`The giant predators need a habitat that contains enough water and prey animals`.

Pattaya would make a suitable location.

[hellodolly]

How much are they going to pay for each tiger when they buy them. For 250,000,000 baht at 200,000 baht apiece they should be able to purchase 125 tigers. Pretty cheap compared to the rice program.

[rodentwarrior]

`The giant predators need a habitat that contains enough water and prey animals`.

Pattaya would make a suitable location.

I thought the topic had suddenly changed to Russian playboys on Jomtien Beach.

[annabel]

Nice of them to advertise so clearly where the tiger population lies in Thailand.

So sad to see so much of our wild life disappearing / becoming extinct all over the world.... what next when they are all gone or have no more natural habitat to live in ... ??Odeyssy.. ( sorry may have spelled that wrong ) .. what year Again ...??? Makes me really sad to see this happening ..?? The saddest part is that we / nobody can stop it from happening ... Do you really want to come back to this planet even 20 years from now???/.... I wouldn't want to live in a concrete high rise jungle for sure ...!!! That is what is being projected to us anyway ...!!!....

[dairycarlin]

My girlfriend said Thai's only want PEACEFUL animals to exist here and KILL all the dangerous animals because they are not like buddhist monks. She is sitting with me right now and can't understand why the world need predatory animals, !!? She can understand english enough but...oh yeah she comes from Korat, just outside of Khao Yai national park and ISAAN was once home to thousands of wild tigers . BUT there is hope if we can get rid of the rising Human population which will encroach on the Huay Kha Khaeng Nature preserve. I'm also pretty sure that BURMA has more tigers in the wild and a LOWER human population. Any other stats on this folks?

[Woodcaulk]

maybe it is just farming of tiger penis for the Chinese?

Tiger Penis Hub?

[Woodcaulk]

ISAAN was once home to thousands of wild tigers . BUT there is hope if we can get rid of the rising Human population which will encroach on the Huay Kha Khaeng Nature preserve. I'm also pretty sure that BURMA has more tigers in the wild and a LOWER human population. Any other stats on this folks?

Stats?....Why yes as a matter of fact. At the DNP seminar the other day the park rangers sat down with KatYai Kin Kamein and KatYai Kin Lao and discussed the stats. Armed with a chinese abucus and a Yingluk computer tablet they crunched the numbers and determined that each Issan prey villagers weighs "X" kilo, and each Tiger needs to eat "Y" kilo's of red meat each day. Based on this simple formula a number of "Z" volunteers will need to be sent to each Tiger reserve zone every day for lunch. The tigers also pointed out that because of their increased schedule of mating and breeding they will need to preserve energy while hunting. It was agreed upon that to honor this request the lunch guest would be bussed to the zones with gps tracking capable cell phones and upon arrival be required to trade their red shirts in for more tiger visible blue shirts. The last business of order was postponed until such later date so as to facilitate time to research how many tiger penis' are required by the Chinese masters (masters of the Thais that is) each fiscal year.

[Payboy]

maybe it is just farming of tiger penis for the Chinese?

Tiger Penis Hub?

Hope they go for the Siberian rather than Indo-Chinese breed. At least they'll get more kilo per penis.

[cowslip]

I haven't seen how they expect to increase the population.

Certainly there is no chance of a captive breeding program........

The population estimate is for Thailand??

There is a report by some American Naturalists who estimated that their is enough free space in Thailand for about 2000 tigers (if I remember correctly.

However the possibility of reviving the population which is so small and with a gene-pool that is probably insufficient, is very slim, even with right techniques and the will to do so by the local authorities.

20 years ago the Tiger populate was considerably more than it is today - it is on a downward slide and not helped by the false claims of institutions like the Tiger Temple and the practices of places like the Sri Racha zoo.

The National Parks and other authorities hae been shown over the years to be plagued with corruption....even the government blatantly ignored environmental issues with there so-called "reforestation" programmes, which were just a cover for growing plantations for cash crops such as palm oil etc etc...

[Bagwan]

I am surprised that after the brilliant brainwave of harnessing the power of boat engines to hurry the flood waters along, nobody has suggested that condoms and birth control pills for tigers be banned and bonuses be paid to tigress mothers to help raise their offspring. A half hundredweight of Kattomeat each should suffice.

[bosunhiggs]

My girlfriend said Thai's only want PEACEFUL animals to exist here and KILL all the dangerous animals because they are not like buddhist monks. She is sitting with me right now and can't understand why the world need predatory animals, !!? She can understand english enough but...oh yeah she comes from Korat, just outside of Khao Yai national park and ISAAN was once home to thousands of wild tigers . BUT there is hope if we can get rid of the rising Human population which will encroach on the Huay Kha Khaeng Nature preserve. I'm also pretty sure that BURMA has more tigers in the wild and a LOWER human population. Any other stats on this folks?

My girlfriend said Thai's only want PEACEFUL animals to exist here and KILL all the dangerous animals because they are not like buddhist monks.

She is sitting with me right now and can't understand why the world need predatory animals, !!? She can understand english enough but...oh yeah she comes from Korat, just outside of Khao Yai national park and ISAAN was once home to thousands of wild tigers . BUT there is hope if we can get rid of the rising Human population which will encroach on the Huay Kha Khaeng Nature preserve. I'm also pretty sure that BURMA has more tigers in the wild and a LOWER human population. Any other stats on this folks?

How old is you 'girlfriend'? 5?

[OzMick]

`The giant predators need a habitat that contains enough water and prey animals`.

Pattaya would make a suitable location.

I'm sure that Pattaya already has enough predators TYVM.

[cowslip]

Burma is relatively lawless in the forests and mountains and it is very unlikely that there will be a swathe reliable stats. Dr. Alan Rabinowitz who also researched big cats in Thailand and South America has laid the foundations for tiger conservation in Burma. I'm not sure how successful his research has been but one huge Tiger sanctuary was announced in 2004 in the Hukaung Valley, it was great;y extended in 2010. However it seems that logging and raising is continuing in that area. One has to be suspicious of the Junta's motives - they could be just to keep out those who might interfere with their businesses or it might have anti-insurgent military purposes.

Thailand's "reforestation" was just a cover for planting cash crops. The Thai military also de-forested huge areas in an effort to give less cover to communist insurgents.

It has to be noted that the Corbetts Tiger - the local species, does not carry a passport and the areas in which it lives are not restricted by national boundaries - especially those between Myanmar and Thailand.

[cowslip]

Statement for the WWF site....

"

How many Indochinese tigers are left in the wild?

The Indochinese tiger is thought to number around 300 individuals.

However this number is an estimate: due to restricted access to the border areas where the Indochinese tiger lives, relatively little is known about their population status.

Most individuals (around 100) live in Thailand, with no more than 30 individuals per country in Vietnam, Cambodia and Lao PDR. The population in Myanmar is unknown."

[stefb1964]

Do I notice a striving to become a tiger-hub as well ?

[JcCarlin]

Nice of them to advertise so clearly where the tiger population lies in Thailand.

So sad to see so much of our wild life disappearing / becoming extinct all over the world.... what next when they are all gone or have no more natural habitat to live in ... ??Odeyssy.. ( sorry may have spelled that wrong ) .. what year Again ...??? Makes me really sad to see this happening ..?? The saddest part is that we / nobody can stop it from happening ... Do you really want to come back to this planet even 20 years from now???/.... I wouldn't want to live in a concrete high rise jungle for sure ...!!! That is what is being projected to us anyway ...!!!....

One Destroyer, One Company, One Predator...............................PEOPLE

[cowslip]

Nice of them to advertise so clearly where the tiger population lies in Thailand.

So sad to see so much of our wild life disappearing / becoming extinct all over the world.... what next when they are all gone or have no more natural habitat to live in ... ??Odeyssy.. ( sorry may have spelled that wrong ) .. what year Again ...??? Makes me really sad to see this happening ..?? The saddest part is that we / nobody can stop it from happening ... Do you really want to come back to this planet even 20 years from now???/.... I wouldn't want to live in a concrete high rise jungle for sure ...!!! That is what is being projected to us anyway ...!!!....

One Destroyer, One Company, One Predator...............................PEOPLE

Aoart from stating the "bleedin' obvious" (to quote J.Cleese) - I don't see what point you are making.

[Moruya]

Nice of them to advertise so clearly where the tiger population lies in Thailand.

So sad to see so much of our wild life disappearing / becoming extinct all over the world.... what next when they are all gone or have no more natural habitat to live in ... ??Odeyssy.. ( sorry may have spelled that wrong ) .. what year Again ...??? Makes me really sad to see this happening ..?? The saddest part is that we / nobody can stop it from happening ... Do you really want to come back to this planet even 20 years from now???/.... I wouldn't want to live in a concrete high rise jungle for sure ...!!! That is what is being projected to us anyway ...!!!....

One Destroyer, One Company, One Predator...............................PEOPLE

Plodding along.....

[Ricardo]

Increase the low number of wild tigers, so that we can become a 'Hub of Captive-Tiger Exports', perhaps ?

[cowslip]

Increase the low number of wild tigers, so that we can become a 'Hub of Captive-Tiger Exports', perhaps ?

at present Vietnam appears to have that distinction - using farms as a cover for the slaughter and export of animals caught in the wild.

Captive tigers can in effect never be released into the wild.

Edited August 19, 2012 by cowslip

[JcCarlin]

at present Vietnam appears to have that distinction - using farms as a cover for the slaughter and export of animals caught in the wild.

Captive tigers can in effect never be released into the wild.

[/quote

Now the Chinese, Thai's and vietnameze head for Laos to run Bear Farms and exploit the wild.....

[cowslip]

at present Vietnam appears to have that distinction - using farms as a cover for the slaughter and export of animals caught in the wild.

Captive tigers can in effect never be released into the wild.

[/quote

Now the Chinese, Thai's and vietnameze head for Laos to run Bear Farms and exploit the wild.....

...and the Tiger Temple allegedly supplies them with animals?

THe point being that conservation is a borderless issue - animals don't have passports (in general) and if one country does nothing it makes it easier for other countries to continue their damaging practices.