Hunted for their pelt and bones and losing their habitat and prey, tiger populations are threatened throughout their range. In many places, they struggle for survival with burgeoning human populations competing for similar resources.
Threats to tigers
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Tiger skin seized at customs.
A long history of persecution
For over 1,000 years, tigers have been hunted as status symbols, decorative items such as wall and floor coverings, as souvenirs and curios, and for use in traditional Asian medicines.Hunting for sport probably caused the greatest decline in tiger populations up until the 1930s. In many areas tigers were also regarded as a pest that needed to be exterminated.
Between 1940 and the late 1980s, the greatest threat was loss of habitat due to human population expansion and activities such as logging.
In the early 1990s, the trade in tiger bone for traditional medicines became a major threat.
More on different tiger subspecies
Learning the lessons of extinction
Current threats
Current threats to tigers can be separated into two categories:- Poaching and retributive killing
which includes :
- the illegal trade of tiger parts and
- human-tiger conflict
- Habitat loss and fragmentation
which includes:
- the results of illegal logging and
- commercial plantations.
Policies conducive to ensuring long-term survival of the tiger are often lacking.
Where they do exist, implementation is often ineffective.
