Laos Loses Its Tigers

the last of its breed, credit WCS

Scientists reviewing camera trap data from Nam Et-Phou Louey National Protected Area conclude that the native tiger species, Panthera tigris corbetti

disappeared from its last sanctuary by 2014 joining the leopard which went extinct in Laos a decade earlier. The last tiger probably succumbed to the snare epidemic plaguing the forest, or perhaps the last one was killed by poachers supplying the ignorant medicine trade. Either way its end was not peaceful or painless.  Laos joins Cambodia and Vietnam, an area bigger than Texas, as countries that have failed to protect their native felines.  These countries now have "empty forests" bereft of the ecosystems top predator and much of their edible herbivores and birds.

the last leopard in 2003

The Nam forest was a top priority for conservationists who considered the remaining tiger population there to be critical since many other areas in Southeast Asia had already lost their large feline populations.  Money was directed at jump starting efforts to protect them.  In 2003 conservationists estimated there were seven tigers in the protected zone, but by 2013 only two were found on camera trap data.  No tiger has been spotted since.  Researchers conducted repeated surveys between 2013 and 2017 with no results.  Scientists lay the blame for these magnificent creatures demise on the proliferation of snares set in the 'protected' forest.  Another protected zone, Nakai-Nam Thuem National Biodiversity Conservation Area, was thought to have contained a few tigers and leopards, but recent camera data indicates that forest is now empty.

Despite all the attention and money, two major and beautiful predators are gone from Laos. What happened?  Snares are most often set for bush meat--pigs and deer--but cats are especially susceptible to lethal injury by snares. They roam a large territory foraging for the same prey species as man.  Even though snares may be removed from a park, those set on its boundaries still claim victims in a split second.  Research published in Biological Conservation found that rangers removed 200,000 from five protected areas in just five years, including the Nam-Et Phou Louey.  While the influx of conservation money helped reduced the number of poachers using guns, snares are more difficult to locate and operate indiscriminately. Compounding the problem is the fact that Laos has no professional park ranger corps. The money, while significant, was too little, too late. Knowledgeable conservationists say snares were not common in the forest prior to this century.  Hunters changed tactics and employed gear provided by Chinese and Vietnamese traders.

The park is still an important biodiversity sanctuary. The rare and spectacular clouded leopard still lives there. Ungulates such as the vulnerable guar have increased, and there is a new top predator, the dhole (Cuon alpinus), or wild dog, listed as endangered by IUCN.  Conservationists will have to turn the efforts to save the Indochinese tiger to Myanmar and Thailand.  If conservationists are successful, perhaps one day the tiger and leopard will return to the empty forest.