Fewer than 50 wild tigers have recently been found in Vietnam, compared to 100 more than ten years ago, said Le Xuan Canh, Director of Institute of Ecology and Biological Resources.

Vietnam records fewer wide tigers due to poaching and deforestation

Scientists have conducted a survey on wild tigers at six natural reserves and national parks in the provinces of Dien Bien, Nghe An, Ha Tinh, Quang Nam, Kon Tum and Dak Lak. The tigers now live in a total area of 9,266 square kilomtres in these parks and reserves.

Song Thanh National Park in Quang Nam Province has the largest tiger population, with around 20, Pu Mat National Park in Nghe An has around 10, Vu Quang National Park around seven and Muong Nhe in Dien Bien and Vu Quang in Ha Tinh are each home to about five. Meanwhile, no trace of these animals has been found at Yok Don National Park in Dak Lak since June.

Canh said that the situation is due to poaching and deforestation.

A project on supervising wild tigers and those in captivity in Vietnam, jointly carried out by Institute of Ecology and Biological Resources and the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology, showed that there are 76 tigers in captivity in Vietnam, of which 26 are in the province of Thanh Hoa, Thai Nguyen, Binh Duong and HCM City for the purposes of serving visiting business people. Most of these tigers are of unknown origin.

Scientists have proposed conservation measures that would promote conservation of animals, especially those listed in the Red Book; such as implanting chips and establishing tiger protection areas in four national parks which have more than 10 tigers.