Pan Sok, a Cambodian villager, recalls a traumatic incident from over 30 years ago when a tiger dragged away his relative in the rainforest while they were tapping trees for resin. He said, “I saw the tiger take him with my own eyes. He was screaming but we couldn’t help him.” Due to such experiences, Pan Sok is "not happy" about the government’s plan to reintroduce tigers, which were declared extinct in Cambodia a decade ago.

Cambodia’s last confirmed tiger sighting was recorded in camera trap footage from 2007. Conservationists now believe that reintroducing the big cats is possible. The $43 million plan involves India sending several of its more than 3,600 tigers to the Cardamom Mountains, a protected rainforest area covering over a million hectares in southwest Cambodia.

Jimmy Borah of the Indian environmental group Aaranyak, who is consulting Cambodia’s government on the project, stated that reintroducing tigers could help protect Cambodia’s landscapes, restore an iconic apex predator, and potentially boost tourism.

Despite these potential benefits, some Cambodian villagers remain fearful of the reintroduction effort due to past tiger attacks.

Sources