Research overview: tiger collapse across mainland Southeast Asia

While tigers recovered in parts of South Asia, populations across mainland Southeast Asia, including Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, and much of Myanmar, collapsed toward functional extinction. This overview surveys research documenting the drivers, principally industrial-scale snaring that empties forests of both tigers and their prey, supplying demand for wildlife products. Studies record the loss of breeding tigers from landscapes that retain forest cover, and the failure of protection to keep pace with snaring intensity. Researchers debate the prospects for recovery, including potential reintroduction into restored habitats such as in Cambodia. The overview underscores that the Southeast Asian collapse is the counterpoint to South Asian success, showing how rapidly tigers vanish where enforcement is weak and the snaring crisis goes unchecked. It is central to understanding the uneven global trajectory of the species.