Locals were warned not to enter Thap Lan National Park after a resident was killed by a tiger on March 29.

Jamras Phumwaengkuang, a 46-year-old resident of Nakhon Ratchasima province, and two friends entered the park searching for wild plants in the forest.

He split from his friends on hearing the noise of an animal that they assumed to be a tiger but did not rejoin the group.

The rescue team and a group of the park’s officers dispatched to look for him came across a tiger guarding his body and a dead monitor lizard.

They spent about 15 hours to bring his body out of the forest. The body was sent to Wang Nam Khiew Hospital for an autopsy.

Thap Lan National Park chief Prawatsart Chanthep said tigers have reappeared in the park after a 20-year absence.