Cambodia Plans to Reintroduce Wild Tigers to Boost Biodiversity

(Phnom Penh, 9th) Cambodia is planning to reintroduce wild tigers, which will mark the return of wild tigers to the country after a 20-year absence.

The last sighting of a wild tiger in Cambodia was in 2007, and since then, there has been no sign of wild tigers in the country.

According to the latest plan, starting next year, Cambodia will release wild tigers imported from India into the Cardamom Mountain protected area in the southwest, hoping to gradually restore the wild tiger population in Cambodia.

The Cardamom Mountains are a protected tropical rainforest covering an area of over one million hectares.

Borah, a representative of Indian environmental organization Aaranyak, has expressed his support for the plan. He said that reintroducing tigers can enhance the protection of Cambodia’s natural landscape, restore the ecosystem of apex predators, curb unsustainable overexploitation, and even promote tourism development.

He told AFP: “This will send a strong message to the world, proving that such cross-border ecosystem restoration is entirely feasible.”

However, the plan also faces risks and challenges. Prolonged poaching activities in Cambodia have led to a sharp decline in wildlife, and the Cardamom Mountain protected area may not have enough prey for tigers, raising public safety concerns. In addition, deforestation and dam construction have damaged the tigers’ habitat.

Indian tiger biologist Karanth, who led investigations into Cambodia’s tigers, said that these large felines and their prey “went extinct right before our eyes,” and he believes India’s attempt to introduce tigers into poaching-ridden Cambodia is a “tiger diplomacy” doomed to fail.

But Borah said infrared camera monitoring shows that prey numbers in the Cardamom Mountains are sufficient to support the needs of the four to six tigers planned for the first phase. “Compared to concerns about prey numbers, the concept of tiger conservation is more important.”

Cambodia’s plan to introduce wild tigers was originally scheduled to begin in 2024, but was delayed due to funding problems. In May this year, the Cambodian Ministry of Environment approved a new plan, which is expected to be implemented starting next year; by 2030, the total budget is expected to reach nearly 43 million US dollars (about 175.39 million Malaysian ringgit).

Most residents around Cambodia’s Cardamom National Park remain skeptical and concerned about the plan. Lim Menma (49), whose home is just four kilometers from the tiger habitat, said she is afraid of tigers reappearing.

“My home is very close. They say the tigers will be kept in enclosures first, then released into the deep forest... I don’t see the point of spending so much money on tigers.”

However, Gray, head of the World Wildlife Fund’s Global Tiger Program, said that introducing tigers could slightly restrain unsustainable development in the Cardamom Mountains, since with a protected species present, highly destructive projects such as hydropower stations and road construction will be subject to stricter evaluation and limitations.

“This may contribute little to the global tiger population, but as a mechanism and method, it can protect Cambodia’s magnificent landscape. That is our goal.”