In a quiet clearing of Kravanh National Park, a steel-and-wood enclosure stands ready—not for a prisoner, but for a symbol. Cambodia is preparing to welcome back the tiger, nearly two decades after the last confirmed sighting in 2007. Once declared extinct in the country by 2016, the tiger’s return hinges on an audacious plan: importing Bengal tigers from India to repopulate the Cardamom Mountains. It would be a landmark moment in Asian conservation, but success depends on more than just releasing animals into the wild.
Tigers vanished from Cambodia due to relentless poaching, rampant snaring, and habitat loss—pressures that still linger. The Indochinese leopard was declared functionally extinct in 2023, and snares continue to litter the forest floor. Reintroducing an apex predator into this landscape demands more than hope; it requires prey, protection, and people. A 2020 study found the area may only support a small founder population of five tigers, far below the 25 needed for long-term viability. Wild pigs may form the core of their diet, but experts remain divided on whether current prey levels are sufficient.
The habitat itself is under siege. Logging, road expansion, and hydropower projects are fragmenting the forest, opening doors to illegal hunters and loggers. Even with a soft-release enclosure already built, long-term survival means sustained enforcement across vast, remote terrain—a commitment that must last decades, not years. India’s success in rebuilding its tiger population offers inspiration, but Cambodia’s context is distinct, with weaker institutional capacity and ongoing development pressures.
Perhaps the most fragile thread in this plan is community trust. Interviews by Mongabay reveal that many local residents near Kravanh National Park have not been formally consulted. For people who rely on forest resources for their livelihoods, the arrival of tigers brings fears of lost livestock, restricted access, and danger. Without meaningful inclusion, the project risks becoming a conservation spectacle rather than a shared mission.
Still, the vision is powerful: a forest echoing once more with the presence of a top predator, a nation reclaiming a lost emblem of wildness. Whether this becomes a recovery story or another cautionary tale will depend not just on biology, but on justice, inclusion, and long-term political will. The enclosure is ready. The question is whether everything else will be, too.