Bangkok – Forest rangers in western Thailand are searching a remote jungle on the Myanmar border hoping to rescue a wild tiger with a missing leg from an area where poachers have recently been operating.
Staff from the wildlife protection organization Freeland spotted the animal earlier this week on video recorded by a remotely operated camera trap in Kanchanaburi province’s Khao Laem National Park as it was feeding on the body of a water buffalo.
Its missing hind leg was clearly visible as it paced awkwardly around the carcass on Sunday night in the thick forest. Freeland’s experts fear the slow-moving female – nicknamed “I-Douan,” which means “the amputated one” – is at risk from hunters or of starvation due to its likely long-term inability to catch prey.
Freeland, working with staff from Thailand’s Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation,…
