SUNDA TIGER

ENDANGERED SPECIES
SUNDA TIGER

NAME: KONG YAO DE
CLASS:2I

FACTS

• This subspecies was once found across several parts of the Sunda
islands in Indonesia. Today, all remaining Sunda tigers are found only in
Sumatra, now that tigers in Java and Bali are extinct.

• Sunda tigers are distinguished by heavy black stripes on their orange
coats. The last of the Sunda island tigers—estimated to be fewer than 400
today—are holding on for survival in the remaining patches of forest on
the island of Sumatra. Accelerating deforestation and rampant poaching
mean this noble creature could end up extinct like its Javan and Balinese
counterparts.

• In Indonesia, anyone caught hunting tigers could face jail time and steep
fines. But despite increased efforts in tiger conservation—including
strengthening law enforcement and antipoaching capacity—a substantial
market remains in Sumatra and other parts of Asia for tiger parts and
products. Sunda tigers are losing their habitat and prey fast, and poaching
is an ever-present threat.

PHOTO OF SUNDA TIGER

Visiting a tiger farm in Southeast Asia—and what such
places mean for wild tigers

• Leigh Henry and her colleagues from WWF’s Tiger’s
Alive team visited Thailand, Laos, and Vietnam to
continue the work of ending the illegal tiger trade and
phasing out tiger farms.

• A couple of months after Leigh Henry, WWF’s director
of wildlife policy, visited one of the world’s largest tiger
farms in northeast China, she headed back to Asia.
This time, she and her colleagues from WWF’s Tiger’s
Alive team visited Thailand, Laos, and Vietnam to
continue the work of ending the illegal tiger trade and
phasing out tiger farms.

• During two weeks of travel, three countries, 34
meetings with other colleagues, non-governmental
organizations, and government partners, the whirlwind
trip proved productive, insightful, and set the
groundwork for what lies ahead. Read Henry's

Visiting a tiger farm in Southeast Asia

• In China, we visited a large, well-resourced facility, open to the
public—including tours, gift shops, and more—with over 700
tigers in the heart of bustling Harbin. On this trip through
Southeast Asia, we visited a significantly smaller tiger farm that
shows just how varied these facilities can be. After driving down
winding back roads into the country and stopping several times
for directions from friendly residents, we finally arrived at a large
but modest property with chickens, beautiful fruit trees, and a
dilapidated cinder block structure housing six tigers in five chain-
linked kennels.

• The remoteness and size of this tiger farm is an example of why
this job is so hard;large, commercial facilities in the middle of an

Collaborations and challenges

• Along with visiting a tiger farm, we worked with our WWF and
TRAFFIC network colleagues to more clearly define our strategy
towards ending the illegal tiger trade and phasing out tiger farms.
In three countries, we built out the details of these strategies and
convened with other organizations and government partners to
discuss collaboration, just as we had done in China two months
earlier.

• It was great to meet face to face with our WWF and TRAFFIC
colleagues from abroad and feel reinvigorated by their
commitment to this issue, even given strong sensitivities with
many of their governments. I was heartened, too, by the other
amazing organizations working alongside us and grateful for their
willingness to share their time. They added immense value and
insight to our travels that will greatly benefit our work moving
forward.

A difficult, but hopeful, road ahead

• Even with the realization of the tough uphill road we
have ahead in phasing out these farms and ending
the illegal tiger trade that still threatens our remaining
wild tiger populations, I’m bolstered by the amazing
WWF, TRAFFIC, and partner organization staff we met
on our journeys. I’m encouraged by what
commitments we have seen from governments
around tigers and illegal trade: China reconfirmed its
commitment to its ban on tiger trade last year, Laos
committed to close it’s tiger farms in 2016, and
Thailand has begun the work of accounting for all of
its captive tigers. But there continues to be a gap
between some of these commitments on paper and
commitment to effective action on the ground. I'm

WHY THEY MATTER

• The island of Sumatra is the only place where tigers,
rhinos, orangutans, and elephants live together in the
wild. The presence of the Sunda tiger is an important
indicator of a forest's health and biodiversity.
Protecting tigers and their habitat means many other
species benefit—including people.

THREATS

• Most tigers in Sumatra are killed deliberately for
commercial gain. According to a survey from
TRAFFIC, the global wildlife trade monitoring network,
poaching for trade is responsible for almost 80% of
estimated SumatranTtHiRgEeATrS deaths—amounting to at
least 40 animals per year.

• Despite intensified conservation and protection
measures in parts of Sumatra and some success in
curtailing markets for tiger bone, there is little
evidence that tiger poaching has declined

HUMAN-WILDLIFE CONFLICT

• Dispersal of tigers in search of their territory and
habitat destruction forces tigers out of protected
areas and into human-occupied spaces— where they
are more likely to come into conflict with people. Like
other parts of the tiger’s range, human-tiger conflict
is a serious problem in Sumatra. People have been
killed or wounded, and livestock falls prey to tigers.
Retaliatory action by villagers can result in the killing
of tigers.

HABITAT LOSS

• Habitat for the Sumatran tiger has been drastically
reduced by clearing for agriculture (particularly oil
palm), plantations, and settlement. On many parts of
the island, illegal timber harvesting, and forest
conversion are out of control. Between 1985 and 2014,
the island’s forest cover plunged from 58% to 26%.
Even protected areas face problems. In addition,
forest conversion has isolated national parks from
one another, along with populations of species like
tigers that need large areas for breeding, feeding, and
dispersing.

WHAT WWF IS DOING
PROTECTING TIGER HABITAT

• Protecting the places where tigers live and breed is the backbone of TX2, an
effort to double the number of wild tigers by 2022. WWF works to protect these
important sites that are—or have the potential to become—breeding grounds,
allowing tigers to disperse across larger landscapes, which we call
“heartlands.” Sumatra is home to five of those heartlands both in Central and
South Sumatra. It is only through the successful protection of these heartlands
that Asia will be able to double its tiger population.

• WWF is also working to save one of the last great stands of rain forest in Thirty
Hills, or Bukit Tigapuluh, in Central Sumatra. In August 2015, WWF-Indonesia
received licenses to manage about 100,000 acres of forests bordering Bukit
Tigapuluh National Park that been originally earmarked for logging
concessions. Together with Frankfurt Zoological Society and The Orangutan
Project, WWF is working through a newly formed concession company that will

MONITORING TIGERS

• WWF is undertaking groundbreaking research on
tigers in central Sumatra. Using camera traps to
estimate population size and distribution as well as
habitat use, we identify wildlife corridors that require
protection across the central Sumatran tiger
landscape.

INFLUENCING LAND-USE PLANNING

• WWF helps design land-use plans that incorporate
critical wildlife habitat. Sumatra’s district and
provincial governments are integrating this
information into their plans, including zoning
decisions and concessions for economic activities.
Along with WWF’s efforts to mitigate the palm, pulp
and paper, and timber industries’ impact on the
island’s biodiversity, this work helps Sumatra balance
environmental realities with people’s social and
economic needs.

Shutting Down Tiger Farms

• ptive facilities that breed tigers to supply or directly
engage in the commercial trade of tiger parts or
products. WWF is calling for greater oversight and
protection of all captive tigers.

Thirty Hills

• WWF and partners secure protection for critical rain
forest in Sumatra. Thirty Hills is one of the last places
on Earth where elephants, tigers and orangutans
coexist in the wild.

Sunda Tiger Stories
5 things Tiger King doesn’t explain about captive

tigers

Tiger King, Netflix’s new docu-series, is roaring with
popularity, but behind the drama, there is a frightful
truth: captive tigers in the United States are a
significant conservation issue and could impact tigers
in the wild.

1. Captive tigers are a major problem in the United
States.

• It is estimated that there are around 5,000 captive tigers in
the US, more than the approximately 3,900 remaining in the
wild. A vast majority of these captive tigers are privately
owned and living in people’s backyards, roadside
attractions, and private breeding facilities. Only an
estimated 6% of the US captive tiger population resides in
zoos and other facilities accredited by the Association of
Zoos and Aquariums. Many of these private tiger owners
aren’t properly trained to care for wild animals, making the
animals vulnerable to mistreatment and exploitation. Often
these facilities will allow public contact with the tigers,
including photo ops and playtimes with tiger cubs. Not only
is the welfare of these tigers compromised, but public
health and safety is at risk during these encounters.

• US tigers are currently regulated by a patchwork of federal, state,
and local laws. No one government agency monitors and tracks
where all of these tigers are, who owns them, when they're sold
and traded, or what happens to their valuable parts when they die.
More centralized oversight of US captive tigers is required to
ensure that they can’t feed the illegal trade that threatens wild
tigers and to ensure adequate welfare of individual animals and
public safety.

• 3. Breeding tigers in captivity is not conservation.
Public encounters with tiger cubs are popular and incredibly
lucrative for many tiger facilities, providing a strong incentive to
breed captive tigers to maintain a continuous supply of cubs for
entertainment. However, these tigers are often inbred, which can
cause birth defects and health issues, making them unsuitable for
introduction to the wild. Reintroduction efforts could, however,
include translocation of individuals from existing wild tiger

• In April 2016, the US government tightened regulations around
captive tigers under the Endangered Species Act, making it
more difficult for these animals to filter into and bolster the
illegal wildlife trade. More than 450,000 WWF supporters called
on the US government to implement these new federal rules
which ensure that tigers cannot be sold across state lines
unless the seller acquires a permit and can demonstrate the
transaction would contribute to tiger conservation. Another
rule under the Animal Welfare Act limits public contact with
tiger cubs between the ages of 8-12 weeks. This small window
reduces the profitability of these cubs for photo ops and cub
petting and will hopefully reduce the incentive for continued
breeding.

• However, Congress needs to act to ensure greater security for
US captive tigers by passing the Big Cat Public Safety Act. This

• The number of tigers in tiger farms has escalated rapidly in
recent years, with 7,000-8,000 tigers reportedly held in a large
number of facilities throughout East and Southeast Asia—most
notably in China, Thailand, Lao PDR, and Vietnam. This captive
population is much higher than the globally estimated 3,900
tigers remaining in the wild. WWF believes the current scale of
captive breeding operations within tiger farms is a significant
obstacle to the protection and recovery of wild tiger
populations, as they undermine and complicate enforcement
efforts and help to perpetuate demand for tiger parts and
products.

• WWF is calling on governments to commit to phasing out tiger
farms and instituting clear bans on trade in tigers and their
parts and products, from any source. While the situation with

Nine wins for tigers in the last nine years

• Cats, it’s said, have nine lives. But just nine years ago,
the world’s biggest cat – the tiger – had all but used
them up. Logging and land clearance had eliminated
95% of the tiger’s historic range and poaching to
supply the illegal trade in tiger body parts had driven
many populations to the edge of extinction. In 2010,
an estimated 3,200 tigers were left in the wild, a
dramatic decline from a century ago when perhaps
100,000 tigers prowled the forests, grasslands and
savannahs of Asia.

• Alarmed by this decline and its implications for
biodiversity, representatives from the 13 nations*
where tigers still survived came to St. Petersburg,
Russia, in November 2010, for an extraordinary
summit; the first to bring together tiger range
states, funders such as the US government and the
World Bank, and major NGOs such as WWF, to
save a single species: the tiger. The result was a
pledge to double the number of wild tigers by 2022,
the next Year of the Tiger on the Chinese lunar
calendar. Dubbed Tx2, it is arguably the most
ambitious effort ever undertaken to recover an
endangered species. Today, there are strong signs

Here are nine top Tx2 achievements to date:

• 1) Amur tigers: Siberian tigers – the biggest of all cats –
live in the border lands between Russia and
northeastern China. In 2013, under Tx2, China and
Russia agreed to coordinate their efforts to protect them.
They had not been seen on China’s side of the border
since the 1940’s. Thanks to significant investments in
tiger conservation by both Russia and China, in 2015, a
WWF camera trap recorded images of a mother and her
playful cubs 20 miles inside the Chinese border. The
distance is significant because the cubs could not have
travelled that far across the border on their own – which
means they were born and raised in China. The latest

• 2) India: Home to perhaps two-thirds of the world’s
wild tigers, India recently completed a year-long
survey that counted 2,967 tigers, and there are
indications that numerous tiger populations in the
country may be stable or growing. The Indian
Government is leading the way in tiger
conservation investments, and the results are
paying off.

• 3) Nepal: This tiny Himalayan country has emerged
as the Usain Bolt of tiger conservation, setting the
Tx2 pace for others to follow. Based on the latest
government survey data, there are an estimated

• 4) Bhutan: A 2015 survey in this rugged, mountainous
kingdom reported a population of 103 tigers – a nearly 30%
increase over the previous estimate of 75. In Royal Manas
Park, the latest census counted 22 tigers at the beginning of
2018, up from 10 in 2010.

• 5) Russia: In addition to hosting the Tx2 summit in 2010 and
cooperating with China to conserve Siberian tigers, Russia
in 2015 established Bikin National Park – a vast 2.86 million
acre (1.16 m hectare) expanse that extends a chain of
protected areas now covering 70% of thetiger’s habitat in
the Russian Far East.

• 7) Other range states – Cambodia and Kazakhstan are
working closely with WWF and others on bold plans to
bring tigers back to their territories. In 2017, Cambodia was
the first range state to acknowledge the extirpation of its
tigers (the last was seen there in 2007) and make an
ambitious pledge to re-introduce them in its Eastern Plains
Landscape. Kazakhstan, while not a Tx2 signatory, has
established a 988,100 acres reserve that WWF is helping
them create for the return of tigers to their former central
Asian range for the first time in 70 years.

• 8) Safe Havens: In 2017, conservation stakeholders came
together to form the Conservation Assured Tiger Standards

• 9) US captive tigers: Some 5,000 tigers—more than exist in
the wild—are held by private owners who in many cases are
neither monitored nor trained to care for them. This lack of
legal oversight allows the potential for illegal tiger trade. In
2016, the US Fish & Wildlife Service took an initial step by
requiring owners to obtain interstate commerce permits
before selling a tiger across state lines. And the Big Cat
Public Safety Act was introduced in Congress earlier in
2019 and would go one step further by restricting tiger
ownership only to

The future of Tx2

• Will we get to 6,000 in the 36 months remaining until
the end of the next Year of the Tiger? It is a daunting
challenge, and tigers are still in crisis in many parts
of their range. But Tx2 was in many ways an
aspirational goal, and the question is really not IF, but
WHEN – as the best science indicates that achieving
Tx2 IS possible. And we know that what we’re doing
works; close enough to know that, with the political
will and help of our partners in the field and
supporters around the world, we can do this.

• * Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, India,

Rare footage shows successful tiger breeding

• Rare and never-before-seen footage of a Sumatran tiger family offers exciting proof of tigers
breeding successfully in the wild. The video shows a female tigress - named Rima - and her 3 cubs
growing up in Central Sumatra. Rima then meets Uma, a male Sumatra tiger, and breeds successfully
to have four more tiger cubs.

• Yet, tigers are endangered, facing a high risk of extinction in the wild. Today, there are only around
3,900 wild tigers worldwide. That’s more than a 95% decline from perhaps 100,000 just over a century
ago.

• Top predators in the food chain, wild tigers play a crucial role in maintaining balanced ecosystems
that support thousands of other species and millions of people.

• “If left to their own devices with enough habitat, prey and protection, tigers will breed,” said Ginette
Hemley, senior vice president for wildlife conservation, WWF. “This video shows progress toward
tiger population recovery in Indonesia and demonstrates what’s possible when governments,
businesses and local communities work together toward a conservation goal.”

• WWF works closely with partners around the world to achieve the TX2 goal—to double the number of
tigers in the wild. This includes supporting rangers with proper training and equipment, collaborating
with governments to strengthen protected areas management, and ensuring that local communities

Sumatran tiger caught on camera
On top of a ridge of in Indonesia, a healthy male Sumatran tiger was

spotted by camera traps earlier this year

• The camera traps are part of a collaboration between WWF and the Riau
Forestry Department to help determine which species abound in the
region. An important conservation tool, the cameras are equipped with
infrared sensors that take a picture whenever they sense movement in the
forest. Around 18 cameras were strategically installed back in March of
2017 to support WWF’s intensive tiger monitoring in central Sumatra.

• “This is the first time we have caught such a beautiful image of a tiger
here. I feel our hard work has paid off just by seeing this majestic creature
roaming on the island,” said Febri Anggriawan, WWF-Indonesia’s Tiger
Research Coordinator leading this study.

• The smallest in size of all wild tigers, the Sumatran tiger faces threats

SAVE TIGERS NOW

• Help us reach our goal of 300 donors in honor of Global
Tiger Day, July 29—donate to protect tigers today.

4 UNSEEN BENEFITS OF PROTECTING TIGERS AND THEIR
HABITAT

• From the world’s largest mangrove forests in the Sundarbans to temperate forests in the snowy mountains of Bhutan, protecting
tigers and their natural homes helps provide benefits for thousands of other animals and millions of people.

• Landscapes where tigers live overlap with globally important ecosystems, many of which are in Asia’s last wilderness. These
areas rich in wildlife and plant life harbor a wealth of critically important goods and services that millions of people rely on every
day. Healthy tiger habitats help mitigate climate change, provide fresh water to animals and people, reduce the impact of natural
disasters, and improve the health of local people. A new WWF report details these often unseen benefits that result from
protecting tigers and their homes.

• Unfortunately, tiger range—the places in which tigers roam wild and free—has plummeted by 95%, leaving populations
fragmented and isolated in the remaining forests of Asia. The remaining range for wild tigers is at risk of reducing by nearly half
due to unsustainable agriculture expansion and urbanization.

• If tigers are to survive this century and beyond, their home range urgently needs protection and restoration. This requires
sustained support from governments, businesses, and communities. We could lose the impressive range of benefits present in
tiger habitat—along with the iconic species—if we don’t act swiftly and effectively.

• WWF works to conserve and connect tiger habitat, monitors tigers and their prey, and collaborates with governments across the
13 tiger range countries to protect wild tigers.

• Here’s a look at a four of the many unseen benefits that come hand-in-hand with tiger protection.

Forests

• The presence and promise of tigers motivate governments to help
protect Asia’s forests. Forest trees and other plants soak up
carbon dioxide—a heat-trapping greenhouse gas contributing to
the warming of the planet—and store it as they grow.
Safeguarding tiger landscapes could protect the last remaining
forests critical for this carbon storage, helping mitigate climate
change. For example, forests protected for Amur tigers in Russia’s
far east can absorb 130,000 tons of carbon per year—the
equivalent of more than 25,000 cars on the road.

• Forests also provide a source for clean air, medicinal plants, and
jobs, among other benefits. Protecting forest landscapes for
tigers will help save the last remaining forests critical for the
survival of wildlife and people, and regulating global climate.

Fresh water

• Hundreds of millions of people depend on water from
places where tigers roam. Tiger landscapes overlap
nine major watersheds that provide water for as many
as 830 million people in Asia, including in urban areas
in India, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand. Water is
critical to everything from agriculture and energy
generation to industry and home use. In-tact,
protected forests generate cleaner water and reduce
the amount of sediment reaching rivers, streams, and
reservoirs. They also play a key role in regulating the
flow of water. Some forests, such as cloud forests,
increase the amount of water flow while others, such
as humid forests, reduce the flow. This natural
regulation helps during times of drought or heavy

Other wildlife

• Tiger habitats are home to far more animals than just
the iconic big cat. More than 30% of Asian elephant
populations live within tiger landscapes, including in
Bhutan, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal,
and Thailand. That means protecting tiger habitats is
important for elephants, too. And all Sumatran rhinos
and Sumatran orangutans—both critically
endangered—live within the tiger’s range. Where
tigers thrive, so do other diverse plants and animals.
When we invest in wild tigers, we can help save many
other species.

Traditional and indigenous cultures

• Protecting tiger landscapes, when done with
sensitivity, contributes greatly to preserving
endangered cultures and languages. Our “biocultural
diversity”—the range of society, culture, and
language on the planet—is disappearing as fast as
our biodiversity. Linguists predict that between 50%
and 90% of the world’s languages will disappear by
the end of this century. Almost one-quarter of
endangered languages assessed to date across the
tiger range are spoken by traditional and indigenous
people living with tigers as close neighbors—many of
who rely on forests where tigers live for their
livelihoods and survival. This reliance on bountiful

World Heritage sites, strongholds for tiger and African
elephant populations, endangered by illegal harvesting

• World Heritage sites reproefssepnetctiehse best of what nature has
to offer. Chosen for their iconic beauty and biodiversity,
many of these sites provide vital habitat to globally
important populations of threatened and endangered
species—including one third of all wild tigers and forty
percent of all African elephants. However highly
concentrated areas of wildlife often attract the wrong kind
of attention. A new report by WWF reveals that World
Heritage sites are especially vulnerable to illegal harvesting
of species listed by CITES (the Convention on International
Trade in Endangered Species), including tigers and African
elephants.

• The global wild tiger population has increased in recent

• Tigers aren’t the only species being targeted within their
World Heritage site homes. The African elephant
population has declined by 111,000 in the last decade due
in large part to poaching. Selous Game Reserve,
recognized as a World Heritage site in 1982 and one of the
largest animal reserves in the world, has lost almost 90%
of its elephants since its inscription in 1982.

• In response to these new findings, the report calls for
protection and monitoring at World Heritage sites to be
accompanied by broader action to curb demand for illegal
wildlife and wildlife products. Unless NGOs, governments,
the UN system and civil society take measures to halt

A better road ahead for wild tigers

Protecting the world's tigers from infrastructure
development

• Earlier this year, WWF estimated an increase in the number of tigers
worldwide, up to 3,890 in 2016 from an estimated 3,200 in 2010. But
success to date is tenuous: According to a new report from WWF, tigers
now face a threat far greater than many we’ve tackled before: linear
infrastructure.

• The development of linear infrastructure—which includes roads, gas
pipelines, railways, power and transmission lines and canals—is on the
rise in Asia and often fragments wildlife habitats, which could be the
biggest threat to low-density species such as tigers. As a result, tigers are
unable to breed, hunt, find cover, and establish their own territories.
Fragmented areas become too small to sustain minimum tiger populations.

• These fragmented tiger habitats also increase human-tiger conflict from

Helping the world’s tigers

• “We need new and sustainable approaches to prevent linear infrastructure from unraveling the tiger
conservation wins we’ve had to date,” said Ginette Hemley, WWF Senior Vice President of Wildlife
Conservation.

• Maintaining tiger landscapes is important to sustaining healthy tiger populations but also vital to the
millions of people who rely on these areas for economic purposes like tourism, as well as
environmental benefits through water management, protection from natural hazards, sediment and
nutrient retention, agriculture, and carbon sequestration. Tigers also hold important cultural value
among indigenous people that co-exist with them, signifying strength and power.

• Effectively addressing these infrastructure challenges requires new methods and commitments from
tiger range countries to integrate the conservation of tigers and their landscapes into infrastructure
planning. There must be strong and proactive collaboration between infrastructure planners,
implementers, and conservation stakeholders. Habitat rehabilitation measures, anti-poaching
guidelines, and monitoring of wildlife movement should also be included in the planning and design
process.

• The report comes at the halfway point of the Tx2 program—an ambitious goal set by tiger range
countries in 2010 to double the number of wild tigers by 2022. Landscape connectivity is vital to

Nine big wins for the world’s tigers

• 1. International Cooperation to Protect Big Cats
September 2013: Russia and China agree on joint
conservation of the Amur tiger and Far East leopard along
their shared border. The agreement includes joint monitoring
of tigers, leopards and their prey species and building on a
network of protected areas in Russia and China. Amur tigers
had not been seen in China since the 1940s when they were
driven to the brink of extinction. The latest data now shows at
least 18-20 adult individuals in the border areas of China..

• 2. Tiger Conservation in Nepal
July 2013: A survey of wild tigers in Nepal estimates 198

• 3. Countries census
2014: Tiger range governments agree to announce a new global tiger estimate by 2016

based on full, systematic national surveys. However, not all countries have completed or
published these surveys.

• 4. Top Tiger Protection Rating for Tiger Reserve
November 2015: Sikhote-Alin Nature Reserve in Russia became the second global site

to receive Conservation Assured |Tiger Standards (CA|TS) accreditation—the highest
accolade in tiger conservation site management. WWF helped to develop CA|TS, a tool for
monitoring and guaranteeing the effectiveness of the management of tiger sites.

• 5. Surveys in India and Bhutan show increases in tiger populations
February 2015: A new survey announcing significant increases in India’s Bengal tiger

population shows conservation efforts are working: tiger numbers increased from 1,411 in
2006 to 2,226 in 2014. The survey, published by India’s National Tiger Conservation
Authority, attributes success to improved management and protection of tiger reserves
and protected areas, maintaining undisturbed core habitats for breeding tiger populations,
habitat connectivity, and protection of tigers and their prey from poaching.

• 6. Tigers in China
February 2015: Footage of a tiger and her playful cubs

caught by a WWF camera trap is the first video evidence of
wild Amur tigers in China. The footage was captured almost
20 miles from the Russian border. In the past, tiger footprints
were the only indicators of Amur tigers in China. The distance
from the Russian border is significant as the cubs would not
have been able to travel so far on their own. From their
location, we know they were born and raised inside China.
• 7. Rising Global Tiger numbers

April 2016: WWF announced that after a century of
constant decline, the number of wild tigers is on the rise.
According to the most recent data, around 3,890 tigers now
exist in the wild—up from an estimated 3,200 in 2010.

• 8. US Captive Tiger Regulations
April 2016: There are an estimated 5,000 captive tigers in

the United States, far more than in the wild. Most are privately
owned by people who are not trained to care for them. This
year, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service announced new and
more robust regulations to ensure that captive bred tigers in
the US don’t help fuel the illegal trade that drives poaching of
tigers overseas. .

• 9. CITES Standing Committee Meets in Laos
At the recent CITES Standing Committee meeting, Laos

announced its intention to discuss ways of phasing out its
tiger and bear farms that are linked to wildlife crime. The

For the first time in 100 years, tiger numbers are growing

• After a century of constant decline, the number of wild tigers is on the rise! According to the most recent data, around 3,890
tigers now exist in the wild—up from an estimated 3,200 in 2010.

• We can attribute this updated minimum number—compiled from national tiger surveys—to rising tiger populations in India,
Russia, Nepal, and Bhutan; improved surveys; and enhanced protection of this iconic species.

• “This is a pivotal step in the recovery of one of the world’s most endangered and iconic species,” said Ginette Hemley, senior
vice president of wildlife conservation at WWF. “Together with governments, local communities, philanthropists, and other
NGOs, we’ve begun to reverse the trend in the century-long decline of tigers. But much more work and investment is needed if
we are to reach our goal of doubling wild tiger numbers by 2022.”

• Governments of countries with tiger populations came together in 2010 to pledge the goal of doubling wild tiger numbers by
2022. Our work is not done: these countries are meeting again this month to report on their progress and commit to next steps
to help tigers rebound.

• Tracking tiger populations and understanding the threats the species faces is absolutely vital in order to protect these big cats.
Classified as endangered, tigers face daily the hazards of poaching and habitat loss. Every part of the tiger—from whisker to
tail—is traded in illegal wildlife markets, feeding a multi-billion dollar criminal network.

• Though we’ve seen real gains in some countries, the outlook isn’t as clear in Southeast Asia, where poaching and rampant
deforestation continue to negatively impact tiger numbers.

• But the hopeful news of rising tiger numbers proves we can make a difference when we come together to tackle these
challenges. WWF works with governments, law enforcement, and local communities to advocate zero tolerance for tiger
poaching across Asia, and uses the latest technology to protect and connect fragile tiger habitat. Together, we have a chance to
reach our goal of doubling wild tiger numbers by 2022.

New US regulations around captive tigers could provide a boost for
wild tigers• Tiger populations fighting for a comeback in the wild will receive a much needed lifeline from the United States government.

Improved and tightened regulations around captive tigers will make it more difficult for captive-bred tigers to filter into and
stimulate the illegal wildlife trade that threatens wild tigers in Asia.

• More than 451,000 WWF supporters called on the US government to help make this happen.

• "WWF has been advocating for tighter regulation of US captive tigers since 2008,” said Leigh Henry, senior policy advisor for
wildlife conservation. “In this case, perseverance paid off, and we’re grateful that the US Fish and Wildlife Service has
recognized the need for greater oversight of the tigers in our own backyard in order to help ensure a secure future for their wild
counterparts.”

• More tigers exist in captivity in the US than remain the wild—and 95% are owned by individuals, not zoos. Astonishingly, the US
has no system to monitor how many captive tigers there are, who owns them, when they’re sold and traded, and what happens
to their parts when they die.

• New and more robust regulations announced by the US Fish and Wildlife Service are a critical first step toward ensuring that
tigers bred in the US don’t help fuel the illegal trade that drives poaching of tigers overseas. The move reiterates that the Obama
administration takes wildlife crime seriously.

• Still, there’s need for more action. The US must continue to improve its regulation of the estimated 5,000 tigers within its borders,
and work with other countries with large captive tiger populations—most notably China—to pave the road forward so these
animals aren’t a threat to the conservation of wild tigers. The US and China recently made joint commitments to end the trade of
elephant ivory; this collaboration should serve as a model for protecting other threatened wildlife. With only a few thousand left
in the wild, tigers should be among the highest priorities.

HOW YOU CAN HELP

• TAKE ACTION
Protect tigers by switching

to forest-friendly products.

• ADOPT AN ANIMAL

Make a symbolic animal
adoption to help save some
of the world's most
endangered animals from
extinction and support
WWF's conservation efforts.

PLEASE HELP THEM
THANK YOU !!!!