500 Kip Panthera Tigris

The Indochinese tiger — the subspecies native to Laos — is functionally extinct in the country, with no confirmed wild population remaining. This issue was released under the broader push by the Bank of the Lao PDR toward wildlife-themed collector silver, a program that generates hard currency through numismatic exports while the animals depicted have largely vanished from Lao forests. The last credible survey data placed fewer than a handful of individuals in border regions with Vietnam.