Following the initial training course, the Freeland team and the KLNP authority are out in the eastern forest of Khao Laem National Park (KLNP) to install 80 cameras for a rigorously scientific Spatially Explicit Capture-Recapture (SECR) grid survey.
Thailand is one of the last strongholds for the Indochinese tiger (Panthera tigris corbetti). The Western Forest Complex (WEFCOM) supports the largest single population of tigers remaining in mainland Southeast Asia. WEFCOM’s Khao Laem has until recently been largely overlooked, but evidence now confirms that it is critical as a connecting wildlife corridor and supports a resident tiger population.
Understanding Khao Laem’s current tiger population and degree of connectivity with other tiger populations within Western Thailand is an important step toward informing and facilitating landscape-scale recovery. The outcomes from this project will feature in the reviews of Thailand’s Tiger Action Plan 2012-2022. Along with results from other surveys across the region, it will help prioritise protected areas for inclusion in the next tiger action plan due in 2022.
