6 Aug 69

The National Park Service has identified a "tiger" who has attacked a Huai Shin officer, a one-year-old, six-month-old male scout at a mischievous age, pointing to a "coincidence" rather than a deliberate attack.

On Aug 6, 69, Shyabhai Amradit, Director of the 12th Conservation Area Administration (Nakhon Sawan), National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Species Department, revealed the progress of the tiger attack on Huai Shin Wildlife Sanctuary staff on August 5 that the tiger cause has now been clearly identified from the tiger research database that has been collected for more than 30 years.

The investigation showed that the tiger was a male scout about one year and six months old, one of the three male scouts of the tiger mother named "Abhanya," with the tiger family already having a tricky territory in about 40 square kilometers within the Huai Shin Wildlife Sanctuary.

Ms. Shyabha said that the behavior analysis showed that the tiger was still at a mischievous and curious age when she was separated from her mother, believing that it was caused by a "coincidence" rather than a deliberate attack.

On the day of the incident, the officer was in a state of sleep, with his body parallel to the ground, mistaking the tiger for prey, and instinctively attacked before the attack was reported.

According to the director of the 12th Conservation Area Administration, the tiger's assertion is academic, based on a photo-based tiger pattern database, in which each tiger's pattern is unique, like a human fingerprint, allowing for precise identification and confirmation that the tiger has been in the researcher's database for a long time.

The three scouts were originally planned to be collars based on long-term research projects, but this happened first, so the data had to be put into wildlife management as a special case.

For the next measure, the National Park Service does not have a plan to catch such a tiger because it is not a "man-eating tiger" or a tiger that chooses humans as prey because the behavior is unique and misunderstanding.

However, officials will step up strict surveillance measures, not open the possibility of a repeat incident, with cameras installed to track the behavior of tigers throughout the short term to assess if they can still hunt their normal natural prey after this.

"If a tiger is found to be behaving naturally, it will allow it to continue to live in the wild," said Ms. Shyabha, "if it is in the future to repeatedly attack an officer or human, so that it is likely to choose a victim, the National Park Service will immediately take action to adjust its behavior.

She also confirmed that after the incident, the tiger family continued to live in the same territory, did not scatter outside the area or approach the community, so there was no risk to the surrounding area.

In the field of tiger populations, Ms. Shyabha revealed that according to the latest database, there are more than one year old tigers, which is about 100 core populations, and there are about 30 scouts under one year old, which are not counted in the database because there is an uncertain survival rate.

Including the overlord forest and nearby conservation areas, there will be an additional population of about 40 tigers. The area is rich and has little human disturbance, so it still supports the tiger population very well.

The Director of the 12th Conservation Area Administration also deposits all officials to add vigilance, especially night-time operations, must travel in pairs, avoid dark areas, do not sleep in the open, and rest inside safe buildings, because naturally, tigers will avoid humans. If they see a person standing or hear a voice, they will flee immediately, but this incident is caused by a sleeping posture that misleads the tiger to be a prey animal.

In addition, the National Parks Department announced the temporary closure of tourism in the Huai Shin Wildlife Refuge area until a thorough monitoring and assessment of tiger behavior is available to ensure the safety of officials, researchers, and residents entering the area.