Conservationists say Indochine
tigers are ‘functionally extinct’ as they launch action plan for reintroduction
AFP
Wednesday 6 April
201610.38 BSTLast modified on Wednesday 6 April 201618.59 BST
Tigers are “functionally extinct”
in Cambodia,
conservationists conceded for the first time on Wednesday, as they launched a
bold action plan to reintroduce the big cats to the kingdom’s forests.
Cambodia’s dry forests used to be
home to scores of Indochinese tigers but the WWF said intensive poaching of
both tigers and their prey had devastated the numbers of the big cats.
The last tiger was seen on camera
trap in the eastern Mondulkiri province in 2007, it said.
“Today, there are no longer any
breeding populations of tigers left in Cambodia, and they are therefore
considered functionally extinct,” the conservation group said in a
statement.
In an effort to revive the
population, the Cambodian government last month approved a plan to reintroduce
the creatures into the Mondulkiri protected forest in the far of east the
country.
The plan will see a chunk of
suitable habitat carved out and protected against poachers by strong law
enforcement, officials said, and action to protect the tigers’ prey.
“We want two male tigers and five
to six females tigers for the start,” Keo Omaliss, director of the department
of wildlife and biodiversity at the Forestry Administration, told reporters.
“This is a huge task.”
The government needs $20 to $50m
for the project, he said, adding talks had begun with countries including
India, Thailand and Malaysia providing a small number of wild tigers to be
introduced.
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