• Over-hunting of tiger prey – human consumption and illegal wildlife trade
• Habitat loss and fragmentation – land converted for development and agriculture
• Direct killing of tigers – for the illegal wildlife trade in wildlife parts and traditional Chinese medicine, and also as retaliation and easing of human-tiger conflicts.

We Know How to Save Tigers

• Prey need to be sustainably managed and conserved
• Tigers require large and connected blocks of tiger habitat
• Tiger human conflict must be mitigated

The work of scientists from the Wildlife Conservation Society over the past three decades has covered the entire range of activities necessary to address the three main threats to tigers mentioned above: monitoring tiger and prey population dynamics, enhancing local capacity for protection of tigers, prey and habitats; national capacity building in research, outreach, community education, technical training and formal education; catalyzing the creation of protected areas; and influencing national and global policy.

But Today We Stand at a Crossroads
If range-wide coordination does not happen, we will end up with small, isolated tiger populations with serious risk of extinction in the wild.

• Most sites are experiencing declines in tiger populations
• There is lack of clear goals, coordination, and range-wide management
• There is lack of government awareness and commitment
• There is inadequate capacity across tiger range
• Fundraising is done on an annual and site by site basis – few to no long-term pledges are made

The Bigger Picture
Conserving tigers helps maintain ecosystems and landscapes that provide the human population with essential ecological services to ensure necessities such as food and water, and for maintaining a high quality environment for health and economic reasons.