Three-legged tiger lost in jungle risks starvation, says Thailand wildlife group

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 organisation 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, hopes to waylay the tiger with a tranquilliser dart and move it to a government facility where it can be provided with adequate food and security.

“We can find her, not difficult to find her,” Freeland-Thailand’s executive Petcharat Sangchai said on Wednesday. “We use the body of the dead buffalo or cow and sit and wait for her to eat the remains, and we can use the sniping gun to shoot her.”