Tigers are in the news again. First, rare camera-trap footage released last week showed a three-legged victim of poaching, a female tiger, hopping through the jungles of western Thailand, eating domestic animals (and possibly attacking people too). Days later: an undercover bust of traffickers with tiger skins in the same region. To keep hope alive for the critically endangered big cat, authorities must now act on two levels. First, they must rescue the amputee before she or poachers strike again. Second, they need to address the underlying causes of poaching before other tigers, animals and people suffer.
On the surface, the story of "I-Douan", the hobbling Indochinese tiger in Khao Laem National Park, looks like this: a handicapped, hungry carnivore stalking local cattle and people, now pitted against angry villagers who are scared about losing their livelihoods and lives. A perfect setup for a tiger lynch mob is in the making.
