500 Kip Panthera Tigris

The Indochinese tiger — the subspecies native to Laos — is functionally extinct in the country, with no confirmed wild population remaining as of recent surveys. This coin was issued the same year the IUCN estimated fewer than 2,500 mature Indochinese tigers survived across all remaining range states combined, most of them in Thailand's Western Forest Complex.

Bank of the Lao PDR has produced a consistent stream of wildlife-themed silver issues for the collector market since the 1990s, virtually none intended for domestic circulation.