India is planning to send four tigers to Cambodia by November-December to help reintroduce the big cats to its forests.
New Delhi signed an agreement with Phnom Penh for the world's first transnational tiger reintroduction in November 2022.
Officials from Cambodia, the National Tiger Conservation Authority, and the Indian ambassador to Cambodia, Devyani Khobragade, recently held an online meeting to discuss the proposal to send four tigers to Cambodia by November-December. However, a final decision is pending.
"There is a continuous dialogue with the officials of Cambodia regarding the proposal. The NTCA has requested that they send a detailed action plan. The same will be examined and placed before the technical committee," NTCA member secretary Gobind Sagar Bharadwaj told PTI.
He said the competent authority will take an appropriate decision based on the technical committee's recommendations.
Another source said the plan is to reintroduce four tigers - one male and three females - into the Cardamom Hills in the southwestern region of Cambodia.
According to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), conservationists in Cambodia declared tigers "functionally extinct" in 2016.
Cambodia's last tiger was seen on a camera trap in the eastern province of Mondulkiri in 2007.
In September 2017, the Cambodian government announced plans to reintroduce tigers into the country with the help of WWF.
Cambodia lost all its tigers due to poaching, habitat loss, and other factors. India is ensuring that all responsible factors are addressed and conditions are conducive to the reintroduction of tigers.
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