Firefighting vehicles had been deployed to extinguish the blaze, which broke out Wednesday night in Nakhon Nayok province, 114 kilometers (70 miles) northeast of Bangkok, government spokesman Anucha Burapachaisri said, adding that helicopters would be sent to provide further assistance.
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.