As the largest cat species, wild tigers embody the importance of big cats to their ecosystems. But with only about 4,500 remaining, coexisting with these carnivores is more important than ever. In this blog, Dr. Abishek Harihar, Panthera Tiger Program Director, details what we are doing to conserve the world’s largest big cat.
When assessing the state of wild tigers, it is difficult not to put the number 4,500 into perspective. It represents a mere fraction of the 100,000 tigers living in the wild over a century ago. Additionally, this number means that there are, quite shockingly, currently fewer wild tigers than the 5,000 captive tigers in the United States alone.
A breakdown of this number demonstrates the wild population's vulnerability. Over 75 percent of these tigers exist on the Indian subcontinent, where populations are recovering in some sites. The Amur tiger population is estimated to be 400 and recovering in Far East Asia. Tiger populations in Southeast Asia, however, are declining. In the last two decades, tigers have gone extinct in Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam. They are currently hanging by a thread in Myanmar. Although there are breeding populations located in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand, they are in fewer places than a decade ago, and they are still facing threats such as:
Since tigers share space with humans in an increasingly crowded world, coexistence is crucial. Through our programs in Thailand and Malaysia and our partnerships worldwide, the Panthera Tiger Program aims to establish safe spaces and foster coexistence to ensure tigers will thrive for generations to come.
Teeming with tropical plants and rare wildlife, Thailand’s Southern Western Forest Complex is a crucial tiger habitat. It’s also only a few hours from Bangkok — one of Earth's largest and most populous cities — complicating living alongside big cats. Like many forests in Southeast Asia, this landscape is threatened by deforestation and poaching — and its tigers are no exception.
However, following a decade of hard work to secure and reconnect habitats, in the last year, we achieved a significant milestone worth celebrating: remote camera surveys photographed three tiger cubs and their mother. While it was momentous enough that we spotted three cubs, the evidence showed that tigers in sWEFCOM were moving into a habitat that, until recently, was previously unable to support them.
People are at the center of this achievement. Focused conservation efforts over the past decade, including creating new protected areas and deploying patrols to protect these big cats, have paid off. Since 2020, patrols have covered 23,000 km, supported by over 30 training sessions and over 30,000 nights of remote PoacherCam monitoring to guide threat reduction measures. However, with more tigers, there is also a risk of more conflict. While our work is not close to being done, we’re building the capacity for people to live peacefully with tigers.
South of Thailand is Malaysia, home to even fewer tigers than its northern neighbor. Panthera’s presence in Malaysia is centered around the communities that live near wildlife, fostering harmony between humans and the ecosystem. Amidst the dense rainforests, Panthera supports patrols led by members of the Orang Asli community, an indigenous group that has historically lived with tigers, leopards and the other rare wildlife that inhabits these rainforests.
The past year was equally focused on coexistence with communities. Panthera is committed to working in support of Pahang’s Crown Prince, HRH Tengku Hassanal, in His Majesty’s campaign to Save The Malayan Tiger, which has also seen the State Government of Pahang setting aside 92,649 hectares to create Malaysia’s first Al-Sultan Abdullah Royal Tiger Reserve. In partnership with the Malaysian Government and other local NGOs, Panthera is working on the ground, keeping both people and tigers safe.
An evaluation of our work found that tactics developed by PERHILITAN, in conjunction with Panthera’s civilian scout teams, reduced the success of foreign poaching incursions in research sites by up to 40 percent and led to tigers showing signs of recovery. That’s evidence that coexistence is possible.
Due to their small population and importance to cultures worldwide, coexistence with tigers begins and ends on the international level. Panthera is an active participant in these partnerships, and over the last few years, we’ve accomplished so much.
In 2022, Panthera, with partners, led the IUCN Red List assessment of tigers, which classified the species as endangered. However, sections of the range appear to be improving for the first time since the initial evaluation in 1986. In addition, a near real-time tool was created to assess and monitor tiger habitat in 2023, with the Wildlife Conservation Society leading this third assessment of Tiger Conservation Landscapes. In addition to showing that tigers have lost territory in the last 20 years, the assessments also revealed that approximately 1 million km2 of habitat are available for tigers, suggesting that tigers have great potential for recovery.
The new year also brought the Sustainable Finance for Tiger Landscapes Conference, convening members of the Tiger Conservation Coalition (Panthera, IUCN, the Environmental Investigation Agency, Fauna & Flora, Natural State, TRAFFIC, the United Nations Development Programme, the Wildlife Conservation Society, WWF and the Zoological Society of London) to discuss the future of tiger conservation. Hosted by Her Majesty the Queen of Bhutan, the coalition agreed to pledge $1 billion to tiger conservation over the next ten years. This was marked by the Paro Statement, a dedication to implementing finance solutions, fostering international and public-private collaboration, and supporting national-level initiatives that co-benefit tigers and people.
The Paro Statement and our work with partners in Southeast Asia are shifting the trajectory for tigers and making it easier for people and wild cats to coexist. However, we know we have a long way to go. With Tigers recovering in parts of the range, we are now pre-emptively planning to mitigate and manage conflicts, strengthening rural economies and securing cores and corridors. Yet, every time a tiger is poached, a healthy future for the world’s ecosystems slips further and further away. Yet, through collective action, we can sow the seeds of our hard work and see progress by the next National Save a Tiger month and beyond.
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© Sebastian Kennerknecht
