Quickly verify the tiger’s appearance in Lam Dong

On May 20, Mr. Nguyen Van Thanh, Head of the Forest Protection Station of Bao Lam district (Lam Dong), said that the unit is coordinating with relevant authorities to carry out a series of measures to verify information about tigers appearing in the forest area of Loc Bao commune, Bao Lam district.

Accordingly, this unit installed 3 camera traps in the questioned forest area and collected information, images and other traces. The local staff also collected hair samples left in the suspected area for analysis and identification.

“We are doing our best, but there is nothing to confirm that the appeared animal is a tiger,” Mr. Nguyen Van Thanh said.

While waiting for the verification of the collected hair samples, the Bao Lam District Forest Protection Station requested the Bao Lam Rubber Joint Stock Company and the People's Committee of Loc Bao Commune to notify workers and people in the adjacent area to be vigilant and keep a distance, and immediately notify the authorities If they detect the mentioned wild animal. Bao Lam Rubber Joint Stock Company should also reassure workers to avoid any effects on people’s daily life and production, and at the same time take measures to protect wild animals.

Previously, at about 5:30 am on May 8, a worker of Bao Lam Rubber Joint Stock Company was collecting rubber latex in Lot 144 (Loc Bao commune, Bao Lam district) when he saw a gray beast shaped like a tiger moving toward the forest along the stream to enter the natural forest area. This animal was discovered at a distance of approximately 15 m close. This worker then reported to the authorities and gave a further description of the animal.

Upon receiving the news, the authorities started to investigate and clarify the incident. Bao Lam District People's Committee then informed people to be vigilant and keep a safe distance from the area where wild animals are suspected to appear.

Since the last photograph of a tiger recorded in the wild in Vietnam in 1998, the animal is said to have "disappeared" in the wild for 25 years. Many organizations and researchers even believe that tigers are really extinct, no longer living in the wild environment of Vietnam.

Tiger appeared in the rubber garden near the forest?

On May 17, Lam Dong Department of Forest Protection informed that it had sent documents to the ranger posts of districts and cities in the province, instructing the handling of information about wild animals appearing in the rubber lot adjacent to the forest and residential area.

Accordingly, this agency proposed research units to apply regulations on "handling cases of endangered, precious and rare forest animals that invade or threaten human life and property" in Decree No. 06 /2019/ND-CP (amended and supplemented in Decree No. 84/2021/ND-CP dated September 22, 2021 of the Government), with the main methods aiming to both banish and protect the animal.

Lam Dong Department of Forest Protection also requested the Bao Lam Forest Protection Station to coordinate with relevant agencies and units to clarify information on whether the wild animal, suspected to be tigers, appear in the forest area managed by Bao Lam Rubber Joint Stock Company to avoid confusing the public.

No more wild tigers in Vietnam?

Tiger is an endangered wildlife on a global scale, so solutions to improve the law on wildlife protection have been proposed. Tigers have been protected by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).

In 2010 the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) put tigers at the top of the list of threatened animals. According to WWF, there are only approximately 3,200 tigers left on the planet today. The number of tigers has dropped by 95% in the past century. In the case of Vietnam, WWF said that there are only about 5 tigers in the wild (as of 2016).

However, this number is only a prediction, because at that time there were no longer any images of tigers appearing in the wild in Vietnam. Many documents show that the last photo of a tiger species recorded in the wild was in 1998, in Pu Mat National Park (Nghe An).

To conserve tiger species, on April 16, 2014, the National Program on tiger conservation for the period 2014-2022 was officially approved by the Prime Minister. The ultimate goal is to protect and conserve the habitat and prey of tigers, limit the decline, gradually recover and increase the number of wild tigers by 2022 as committed in the 2010 Tiger Summit.