Bangkok:  Thailand plans to increase its population of tigers by about 50 percent in the next several years, a senior official said on Tuesday.

Given the current population of about 750 tigers in Thailand’s evergreen forests, the number will rise by at least 300 to add up to over 1,000 tigers by 2022, Xinhua news agency quoted the authorities as saying.

Thailand has reached agreements with Laos, Cambodia, Malaysia and Myanmar in the bid to protect tigers jointly in the tropical forests along the shared borders. There are an estimated 1,300 tigers in private zoos in Thailand.