Thailand Credits Prey Releases for 'Extraordinary' Tiger Recovery

In the thick, steamy forests of western Thailand, 20 skittish sambar deer darted from an enclosure into the undergrowth — unaware they may find themselves in the jaws of one of the habitat's 200 or so endangered tigers.

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KAMPHAENG PHET, Thailand —

The release was part of a project run by the government and conservation group World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) to provide tigers with prey to hunt and eat, which has helped the big cat make a remarkable recovery in Thailand.

The wild tiger population in Thailand's Western Forest Complex, near the border with Myanmar, has increased almost fivefold in the last 15 years, from about 40 in 2007 to between 179 and 223 in 2024, according to the kingdom's Department of National Parks (DNP).

It is an uptick that WWF's Tigers Alive initiative leader Stuart Chapman called "extraordinary," especially as no other country in Southeast Asia has seen tiger numbers pick up at all. The DNP and the WWF have been breeding sambar, which are native to Thailand but classed as vulnerable, and releasing them as prey.