CityNews – At around 4am on January 9th 2017, officers from Protected Area Regional Office 13, Lampang Branch, lead by Chonpoom Jomthan, the Director of Wildlife Conservation together with over 100 officers from Protected Area Regional Office 16 (Chiang Mai), military officers from Regional Area 32, police officers from Thoen District, village chiefs, rescue officers and many locals came together to help an injured Bengal tiger in Sob Toen village Tambon Mae Thod Amphoe Thoen. Locals had heard the tiger’s roar after the tiger was discovered lying inured in a cassava planation about 50 metres off the Lampang-Bangkok Road.
Veterinarians from the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation shot the tiger with anesthetic then moved it to a cage. The male tiger was measured at 1.2 metres height, 1.6 metres long and was around 200 kilograms in weight. It had an injured wound which appeared to have been a gunshot under its left lips and many more wounds on its body.
Director Chonpoom Jomthan, said that this tiger had been wandering around Tambon Mae Thod Amphoe Thoen for 3 months because the locals in the area saw its footprints many times but the officers couldn’t find it. This tiger may have been hunted from the deep forest and tried to escape but couldn’t go any further because it was injured. This tiger will be resting and receiving treatment at Huay Yang Pan Conservation Centre Amphoe Hot, Chiang Mai before released back into the forest.
