50 years of Project Tiger: India considers translocating a few big cats to Cambodia
In the 50th year of ‘Project Tiger’ in India, the Centre is considering translocating a few big cats to Cambodia, where the species have become extinct in the last decade. The last tiger spotted on camera trap in Cambodia was in 2007. India, following the success of first-of-its-kind transcontinental translocation of the African Cheetahs last September, signed a memorandum of understanding with Cambodia in November to assist it with “all technical details and knowledge’’ regarding the reintroduction of tiger in the country. ‘Project Tiger’, which began in 1973 at the Corbett national park, completes 50 years on April 1 this year. Tigers have gone locally extinct in Vietnam and Laos as well but officials in the Union environment ministry said the other countries have shown no interest in similar translocations. Tigers disappeared from the Cambodian landscape due to excessive poaching and loss of habitat, said officials. In late 2017, the Cambodian Prime Min...