#tiger conservation

[rhysaka]

Hunting, or Shikar, was seen as a symbolic rite of passage and a demonstration of masculine strength and dominance for British officers and officials. Not only tigers but the British hunters were responsible for killing numerous animals like elephants, deer, leopards, rhinoceroses and wild boar. The introduction of game laws and licensing fees in the late 19th century made hunting prohibitively expensive for indigenous communities, effectively restricting the “sport” to the British elite.

Today, independent India’s tiger conservation is a global success story centered around Project Tiger, launched in 1973, which has successfully increased India's wild tiger population to 3,682 in 2022, housing nearly 75% of the world's wild tigers.

[missedmilemarkers]

[fourofpondsart]

Tiger

[activists-hope]

Thailand credits prey releases for 'extraordinary' tiger recovery

In the thick, steamy forests of western Thailand, 20 skittish sambar deer dart from an enclosure into the undergrowth -- unaware they may fi

Excerpt:

The release is part of a project run by the government and conservation group WWF to provide tigers with prey to hunt and eat, which has helped the big cat make a remarkable recovery in Thailand.

The wild tiger population in Thailand's Western Forest Complex, near the border with Myanmar, has increased almost fivefold in the last 15 years from about 40 in 2007 to between 179 and 223 last year, according to the kingdom's Department of National Parks (DNP).

It is an uptick that WWF's Tigers Alive initiative leader Stuart Chapman calls "extraordinary", especially as no other country in Southeast Asia has seen tiger numbers pick up at all.

[why-animals-do-the-thing]

What does it mean that generic tigers are being "managed to extinction"?

It’s fancy zoo speak for choosing to stop breeding them or getting new ones: it means once the current animals die of old age, they won’t be in AZA zoos anymore. The current generic tigers in AZA facilities - there’s very few of them now - are living out the rest of their lives in comfortable retirement, basically.

For folk not familiar with the term “generic tiger,” it means they’re basically subspecies mutts. Many of the tigers in zoos in the US and around the world don’t have a known lineage, and therefore it’s thought that their populations don’t serve a conservation purpose. (That claim can be debated, because imho seeing and learning about any tiger at all will increase people’s interest and investment in conservation, but that’s the official stance anyhow). Current tiger breeding programs in AZA zoos focus on specific subspecies: Amur/Siberian, Sumatran, and Malaysian.

So just to emphasize: AZA zoos are not letting tiger populations die out! They’re just switching away from tigers whose genetics aren’t known so they can focus on funding and housing endangered subspecies.

[xolopilli-art]

[image descriptions in alt text]

This is a painting I did for the Dallas Zoo's "Zoo to Do" art auction event in 2019 to help raise money for the zoo. The theme was Tigers. 🐯With 2022 being the Year of the Tiger in the Chinese calendar, I thought I would finally post these 😅

I was REAL proud of this one, though I do wonder where it wound up?.. 🤔🧐 (Hopefully not in the home of a transphobe 🏳️‍⚧️)

👇 Comment how much you think it sold for - closest answer gets a million points and a bunch of tiger emojis 🐯

[endangered-tigers]

Tigers of the world, both current and EXTINCT.

https://endangeredtigers.org/tiger-species/

[hope-for-the-planet]

Finally, We Have Some Good Nature News: Tiger Numbers in India Are Rebounding

Indian tiger numbers are up, according to one of the most detailed wildlife surveys ever conducted. Tiger populations have risen by 6 percent, to roughly 3,000 animals.

After over a hundred years of decreasing, tiger numbers are now on the rise!

In 2019, scientists in India carried out the largest and most in-depth tiger census ever recorded. The census was so big that they made an application to the Guiness Book of World Records to determine if it was the largest wildlife survey ever conduted for any species.

India is home to the vast majority of the world’s tigers, and it was shown that Indian tiger populations have seen at least a 6% increase since the last survey in 2014.

While there is still work to be done to increase tiger populations to healthy stable levels, the fact that they are increasing at all is a huge step forward!