Tigers, bear rescued from Phuket zoo shut down after tourist slump
A 19-year-old partially blind tiger named Rambo looks on from inside a cage on a truck, after being rescued by a team of veterinarians and Wildlife Friends Foundation staff from a bankrupted Phuket Zoo, which was forced to shut down after the COVID-19 crisis and the lack of tourism in Phuket, Thailand June 7, 2022. REUTERS
PHUKET, Thailand — The last remaining tigers and a bear were rescued from Phuket zoo in Thailand on Tuesday, after the zoo closed last year due to the pandemic.
A lack of tourists plunged the zoo into financial trouble and forced it to shut in late 2021, but several animals were left behind without adequate care.
Altogether 11 tigers and 2 bears needed rescuing, said Edwin Wiek, founder of Wildlife Friends Foundation Thailand (WFFT). The group collected the last three animals on Tuesday.
They will be taken to a wildlife rescue center run by the WFFT in central Petchaburi province as they cannot return to the wild, said Wiek.
Tourism to Thailand suffered an 18-month hiatus due to the outbreak of the coronavirus. The country is targeting 5 to 15 million arrivals this year.
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