May

Wait...tigers are endangered?

Tigers are some of the most well-known creatures out there, but not everyone knows that they're endangered, which makes it even more important to spread the word! All six sub-species of tigers---Bengal tigers, Sunda tigers (aka Sumatran tigers), Malayan tigers, Amur tigers (aka Siberian tigers), South China tigers, and Indochinese tigers---are highly endangered due to poaching of both tigers and their prey, habitat loss, and human-tiger conflict. According to the Global Tiger Forum, in 2023 there were only an estimated 5,574 wild tigers left worldwide. The Javan, Bali, and Caspian tigers have already been declared extinct. The South China tiger is possibly extinct in the wild, and might currently be only surviving in captivity.

Why are tigers important?

Tigers are a keystone species, which means they are essential to a healthy ecosystem. Because tigers are top predators, their removal from the food chain could lead to the overpopulation of prey species, causing overgrazing and damage, impacting the ability of trees to clean water and air and the balance of the ecosystem. In this way, their extinction could lead to ecosystem collapse, the extinction of other species, and the contamination of our air and water.

Tigers also serve as an umbrella species. This means that they help give world leaders a focus point to work towards in conservation, becoming the representatives of their ecosystem. When leaders work together to bring a positive impact on tigers, they also indirectly bring a positive impact on all the species that share the tigers' habitat because many of the threats those species face are either also faced by tigers or are being caused by tigers disappearing.

Besides all this, tigers are an important cultural icon, benefit local economies, and help mitigate natural disasters through their role of maintaining healthy ecosystems.

Overview of a tiger and the problems they're facing

Tigers are native to rainforests, forests, mangrove swamps, grasslands, and savannas in Asia. They face poaching, habitat loss, habitat fragmentation, and human-tiger conflict.

Poaching is the illegal hunting and harvesting of animals and plants. The main reasons people poach tigers is to sell their skin, bones, and other parts in the illegal wildlife trade. Tiger parts are valued at high prices because they are believed to have medicinal benefits (tiger parts are used to treat a variety of ailments, but there are many cheaper and more effective herbal alternatives out there), are used as trophies and symbols, or worn as charms. People also poach tiger prey, which drives tigers to starve or to hunt livestock (leading to human-tiger conflict).

Habitat loss is the loss of natural habitat. Included in this is habitat fragmentation, which is when a habitat is broken up into sections by human activity, isolating populations and impacting migrations and breeding. Many essential tiger habitats are being repurposed into agricultural land and cities and neighborhoods, which drives away tiger prey and separates their populations, causing them to inbreed, which reduces genetic diversity and makes them more vulnerable to disease. Separating tiger populations also results in the loss of tiger prey, making tigers, who are solitary animals, have to fight for limited resources. According to WWF, tigers have already lost about 95% of their past range.

Human-tiger conflict is when conflicts arise from humans and tigers sharing habitat and resources. When humans encroach on tiger land and repurpose it for their needs, they poach or drive away tiger prey, leaving tigers to hunt livestock instead. Sometimes when tigers kill livestock, the people who owned that livestock kill the tiger responsible---and maybe also other tigers who didn't touch the livestock. This results in negative consequences for both humans and tigers, and in a negative attitude in human communities when it comes to tigers in general.

What are tiger farms?

According to WWF, "Tiger 'farms' are captive facilities that breed or keep tigers to supply or directly engage in the commercial trade of tiger parts or products." Although the trade of tiger parts is illegal, keeping tigers captive for commercial purposes is legal, and tiger farms take advantage of this loophole. For example, one product that comes out of tiger farms is tiger bone wine. Crushed tiger bones are left to marinate in wine for a few years; the wine is then sold to people who believe consuming tiger parts will benefit them. Some tiger farms also use their tigers to entertain visitors. From a 2010 interview with Grace Ge Gabriel, the Senior Advisor on Asia Affairs for the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), "They also force and train a lot of these animals to perform. There are tiger circus performances. There are also tigers [who have] their teeth pulled out and [who are] chained to the ground for tourists to jump on them and take pictures." Tigers, who are solitary animals, are crammed into concrete cages and bred as quickly as possible. These tigers usually aren't fit for release in the wild---they're inbred and crossbred, which means they would compromise the genetics of wild tigers if released. They also don't have the skills needed to survive in the wild. 

Tiger farms don't just impact captive tigers. They also hurt wild tigers by encouraging the illegal wildlife trade of tiger products and providing confusion to buyers on if buying tiger products is harmful or not (in other words, creating and perpetuating a market for tiger products, including products from tigers poached from the wild). They can also serve as a cover for wild tiger poaching, since it can be hard to tell whether a product like tiger bone wine was created from a wild or captive tiger.

As stated by WWF, there are an estimated "at least 8,900 tigers [being] held in more than 300 captive facilities in East and Southeast Asia": over 6,000 estimated individuals in over 200 facilities in China, around 1,600 estimated individuals in Thailand, around 450 individuals in Laos, and around 395 individuals in Vietnam (2018-2023). In the US, it's estimated that there are around 5,000 tigers in captivity; in the EU and UK there at least 85 tigers are in captivity; and according to a 2024 report (page 113) from the Ministerial Task Team (part of the South African government), there are 626 tigers in captivity in South Africa (this number may be higher due to incomplete survey data). It is believed that more tigers live in captivity than in their natural homes in the wild.