Cambodia Approves Tiger Reintroduction Plan from India Starting 2027 Despite Local Concerns

Cambodia's environment ministry approved a roadmap in May for reintroducing tigers to Cardamom National Park, with the first animals expected from India in 2027. The plan targets the park's more than one million hectares in Koh Kong province, where the last confirmed tiger sighting occurred in 2007 camera-trap footage. Tigers were declared extinct in the country about ten years before July 2026.

India holds more than 3,600 tigers and would supply the initial animals. The tigers would first occupy a 40-hectare enclosure four kilometers from the nearest main road before release into the wild. A carbon-credit project intended to help fund the effort was suspended, pushing back an earlier 2024 arrival target.

The total budget through 2030 stands at just under $43 million. Jimmy Borah of Aaranyak, who consults for the Cambodian government, said the effort would send a conservation message to the world. Tom Gray of WWF's global tiger program said reintroduction could place a brake on unsustainable development in the Cardamoms.

Local residents expressed mixed views. Pan Sok recalled seeing a tiger drag away a relative more than 30 years ago while they tapped trees for resin and said he is not happy about the plan. Lin Meng Ma, 49, lives meters from a sign reading Tiger Reintroduction Project and learned of the effort only after questioning rangers; she questioned the cost and said her house is very close.

Ullas Karanth, who previously surveyed Cambodia's tigers, said prey availability has not recovered enough and warned the effort is doomed. Axel Moehrenschlager of Panthera noted that translocated animals tend to range widely and said a tracking and interception plan is required.