PHUKET, Thailand - The last remaining tigers and a bear were rescued from Phuket zoo in Thailand on Tuesday (June 7), 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 two&nbsp;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 centre&nbsp;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.

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, on June 7, 2022.

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PHUKET, Thailand - The last remaining tigers and a bear were rescued from Phuket zoo in Thailand on Tuesday (June 7), 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, bear rescued from Phuket zoo shut down after tourist slump