Watch Now: GC Helping to Save the Last Indochinese Tigers

Asia has lost over 95% of the Tiger’s historical range, and there are less than 4,000 tigers left in the wild. Excluding India and Nepal, the situation is even more dire. The largest forests remain in Myanmar, but these have been poached out, leaving empty forests where the Tiger once roamed freely. No Tigers remain in all of China, Cambodia, Laos, or Vietnam.

Global Conservation is focusing on two endangered national parks in Thailand, the last bastions for the 160 Tigers still surviving in the country.

Tigers are under constant threat from hunters, tiger poaching syndicates, illegal logging and clearing of forests, and the killing of critical prey for their survival. As well, the destruction and fragmentation of their habitat make finding a mate even more difficult.

The Indochinese tigers of Thailand, one of five subspecies, are now critically endangered, and Global Conservation has focused on deploying Global Park Defense to protect their two core habitats:

1) Eastern Forest Complex - Thap Lan National Park

2) Western Forest Complex - Thung Yai – Huai Kha Khaeng National Parks

Both are UNESCO World Heritage sites.

Working with WCS Thailand and the Department of Parks and Wildlife, Global Conservation has deployed Global Park Defense (GPD):

• Surveillance

• Communications

• SMART Patrolling

• Community Protection

GPD is used to protect these last intact forests of Thailand from both professional tiger poachers and illegal people entering the national parks for illegal logging of rosewood and land clearing.  With large human populations in towns and villages throughout the national park and its borders and buffer zones, Protecting Tigers while protecting Livestock and Human Communities is the highest priority.

The deployment of Global Park Defense in Thap Lan National Park resulted in a significant reduction in wildlife poaching inside the park. After the deployment of over 150 Cellular Trailcams on all roads and trails into Thap Lan and the successful war against Rosewood Poachers over the past 5 years, Tigers have begun to return, and new cubs have been seen in recent years.

Based on the success of Thap Lan Global Park Defense, the national government purchased thousands of Cellular Trailcams for all its National Parks to provide real-time surveillance against illegal hunting and logging. 

This story is a model for conservation efforts in national parks and UNESCO World Heritage sites in Asia and all over the planet.

Global Park Defence provides the technology, systems, and training for park-wide surveillance, SMART patrolling, rapid response, and legal support for arrests and prosecutions of illegal loggers and poachers to achieve ‘No Cut, No Kill’ protection.

With Asia’s rapid growth of human populations, protecting national parks is becoming more and more critical as they are the Last Bastions for the remaining Tigers. 

By protecting the key National Parks, Tigers can rebuild their populations in Thailand and its neighbors to become healthy again.