Disappearing Faster Than Thought
Asian Tiger Alarm Sounded
“The situation’s critical, but it’s not too late.”
— Tony Lynam, zoologist
 Motion-triggered cameras reveal a much smaller population of tigers than expected. Poaching takes a big toll. (AP Photo/Wild Conservation Society) |
The Associated Press
T A P H A Y A N A T I O N A L P A R K, Thailand — A network of motion-sensitive cameras is revealing what conservationists have long feared: one of Asia’s most magnificent beasts, the tiger, is even closer to extinction than previously thought.
Conservationists have long warned that hunting and loss of habitat threaten the region’s tigers with extinction. Now, the New York-based Wildlife Conservation Society is conducting a survey to determine the extent of the danger.
To the dismay of the scientists, the initial results indicate a steeper than expected decline in the population of Southeast Asia’s biggest cat.
Leading the project in Thailand is Tony Lynam, 33, a zoologist from Perth, Australia. For two years, he has combed the jungles, searching for tiger tracks and gathering anecdotal evidence from villagers.
The core of his research, though, is about 30 unmanned cameras placed in waterproof boxes and strapped to trees close to the ground along paths tigers are suspected of using.
Each camera sends out an infrared beam. Every time something breaks the beam, the camera clicks. The technique, first used in India, gives a rapid, comprehensive analysis of a forest’s wildlife and habitat.
 These waterproof cameras, strapped to trees, take photos when an infrared beam is troggered. (AP Photo/Wild Conservation Society) |
Lynam and his Thai assistants space the cameras to cover 16
square miles of forest. After a month to six weeks, they return, collect the cameras and
develop the film.
“That’s the really exciting part,” Lynam says.
“You simply don’t know what you’ve got. It could be tigers, or it could
just be 10 porcupines.”
The photos are breathtaking: candid shots of tigers on the prowl,
a split second before the shock of the camera flash intrudes.
In one picture, a flesh wound in a tiger’s flank is visible.
In another, the tiger is so close to the lens that the frame is filled with its coat and
distinctive stripes.
But the bad news is that although Lynam has 40 pictures of
tigers, they represent just six individual animals — from four major Thai national
parks.
“The alarm bells are ringing bloody loud,” Lynam says. “There are fewer tigers than we’d ever thought out in those forests. What it means is that tigers really are on their way out.”
No one knows how many tigers are left in the wild in Southeast Asia. The entire Asian continent is thought to have only 5,000, half of them in India. Some experts estimate that one tiger dies a day.
| What the Camera Census Catches |
| Sakai Tribe: A hunter from this reclusive jungle tribe left behind an image of a dark-skinned man wearing a loincloth and carrying what appears to be a blowpipe. |
| Clouded Leopards: Zoologists know little about this medium-size Asian cat, but the mottled, ochre-colored animal crops up repeatedly on film. |
| Elephants: These behemoths sometimes are startled by the automatic flash and have stomped four of the cameras to pieces. |
Thailand is at the center of the tiger’s global habitat.
Ideally, the animals should be most numerous in the center, but a comparison with India
underlines the reality.
In one Thai reserve of 80 square miles, Lynam’s team found a
single tiger. There are 60 in an Indian reserve of 246 square miles.
The Thai Royal Forestry Department is cooperating fully with the
project. Staff are being trained to carry on the work after Lynam’s team moves on.
“The tiger is an indicator of the forest,” says Viroj
Pimmanrojnagool, the department’s director of wildlife research. “If we have
tigers, it means our forests are still rich with biodiversity.”
The main reasons for the tiger’s decline are loss of habitat
to human encroachment and poaching to provide tiger organs for Asian traditional
medicines.
Experts say that a forest of less than 54 square miles cannot support tigers. As expanding settlements and roads require more trees to be cut down, tigers are being squeezed out of existence.
Although it’s banned, hunting in Thailand’s national parks is common. For every shot Lynam’s cameras take of a tiger, bear, deer or elephant, there is another of a man, or group of men, walking through the forest, guns in hand. Some pictures record hunters going into the jungle in the morning empty-handed and returning in the evening with bulging sacks.
Ta Phaya National Park is part of a forest complex that stretches from central Thailand eastward to the Cambodian border. It should be prime tiger territory, but it isn’t.
During a recent trek to collect cameras, Lynam and his team found snare after snare, including one rigged to fire a rocket-propelled grenade. Thai army rangers assigned to protect Lynam’s team say banditry and hunting are major problems.
When research is completed in the next three to five years, the World Conservation Society will make suggestions to the Thai and other Southeast Asian governments on how to conserve tigers.
Lynam says the forests need to be protected, conservation areas set aside, and anti-hunting laws enforced.
“The tigers are still there — look!” Lynam says, jabbing at his photos. “The situation’s critical, but it’s not too late.”