A few weeks ago, I was hiking in Sukhothai, Thailand dreaming of seeing a wild tiger when one of the rangers who lives on the mountain told me about monks spotting tigers on the mountain and his experiences hearing the tigers vocalizing during wildfires. Of course, this made me very eager to find tigers, but also brought me to think about all the tigers that are in Thailand and what their lives are like. The last tiger census done by World Wildlife Fund concluded that there are about 189 wild tigers left in Thailand, while there are an estimated 2,000 captive tigers in Thailand… 2,000! While wild numbers are increasing with better anti-poaching efforts, tigers are still facing a plethora of problems throughout their range countries.

Background on Tigers

There are six members of the tiger family, including: Sumatran, Amur (also referred to as Siberian), Bengal, Indochinese, Malayan, and South China tigers. While there are also three extinct subspecies including: the Balinese, Caspian, and Javan tigers. Bengal tigers can have four color variations— orange and black, golden, royal white, and snow white. These tigers primarily live in India where the 2018 census estimated about 2,967 tigers left. Amur tigers are the largest species, mostly residing in the Russian Far East and Northeast China and are only left with about 500 individuals. Indochinese tigers are the tigers that reside in Thailand and across Southeast Asia and therefore will be the main subspecies discussed in this blog post!

Tigers in Tourism 

Unfortunately, most of the tigers that are living in captivity throughout Thailand are used for hands-on tourism. Not only are these tigers on display for humans to see but are locked up and sometimes sedated so that people can sit with them, pet them, and pose for photos without any barrier between the tiger and human or safety precautions being taken. Tourists visit these facilities every day in order to have a close interaction with a large cat, but how many people are thinking of the exploitation or the means necessary to get these wild cats to be so calm and docile? How many people are questioning their health and welfare at such tourist attractions? One of the main reasons I started my blog and enjoy writing posts is to spread awareness about topics that may otherwise be overlooked, such as this one. The use of tigers in tourism is something that has not gotten a lot of attention and therefore many potential tourists are unaware of the exploitation and harm they are contributing to when visiting tiger temples/kingdoms that allow this interaction. Oftentimes it seems that people forget that these are wild animals, they are being bred in captivity in order to serve as a tourist attraction and are not living as they should in the wild. Even at facilities where no sedation is used, it is highly stressful and against tigers’ natural instincts to be in close contact with humans. The photo seen below was taken at a facility in Thailand, where you can see the tiger displaying an aggressive response to being touched. This is both unsafe for the people who are interacting with the tiger, and highly stressful for the tiger. The most unfair thing we can do to wildlife is put them in a situation where they feel as though they need to be aggressive and lash out at us in order to be in a safe, stress-free environment— this is the definition of exploitation.

Unfortunately, many facilities that utilize tigers for tourism continue breeding their tigers which perpetuates the cycle and keeps thousands of tigers in unfair captive living conditions. This situation is no different from the thousands of elephants residing in camps that are using harsh training methods and allowing tourists to exploit them on a day to day basis, which has recently gotten much more attention and backlash (thank goodness); let’s make sure the tigers start to get more attention and backlash as well. Regardless of the species, big or small, fluffy or scaly, they don’t deserve to be exploited by humans, they all deserve to live freely.

Human-Tiger Conflict 

Human tiger conflict is defined as any run-in between humans and tigers that may result in injury or death of one or more of the parties involved. This issue is increasingly prevalent in areas where humans are living near protected lands, national parks, and jungles home to these large cats. Historically, human-tiger conflict has not been as pronounced of an issue due to the low population of tigers. This gave humans the comfort of expanding their farms and establishments into the edges of forests without greater risk of predation on themselves or livestock. Now, with increasing tiger populations, tigers may wander into villages to find food or local residents may venture into the jungles to hunt. Despite the increases in tiger population, there have been little improvement to boundaries and no expansion of reserves and protected area in many range countries. Since there are no buffer zones or protected land between human settlement and tiger habitat, there is high incident of encroachment on one another. With more and more development happening in and around tiger habitats, fragmentation of their land is making it nearly impossible for tigers to avoid human interaction. For example, when people settle near rivers or lakes in the jungle landscapes, tigers are forced to walk through human settlement in order to get to a water source, creating the perfect situation for human-tiger conflict.

Climate Change and Conflict 

Unfortunately, conflict between the two species is escalating as climate change worsens. Through some research projects I worked on during my master’s program, I found that with climate change comes more competition for resources between humans and tigers. Climate change is not necessarily always an increased frequency of extreme weather events but is characterized by increased intensity and severity of heat waves, flooding, droughts, cyclones, and other weather events. This is problematic, especially for those living in already harsh landscapes that may not provide ample resources. As prey species and fresh water sources disappear, tigers are more likely to wander into bordering villages leading to conflict; and with increased conflict has come an increase in retaliatory killings of tigers. Although problematic for tiger conservation purposes, it is not the fault of the local people as many of us cannot relate to the choices that would have to be made when cohabitating with such dangerous carnivores. If we were faced with a decision to protect our families from an animal that has already taken family from us, we would likely make the same choice. It is vital to conservation efforts that blame is not placed on those who are closest to the problem because oftentimes it is easy to forget how challenging it can be to live among wildlife. Many of the people bordering these landscapes do not have the infrastructure or means to separate themselves from the dangers around them and are doing their best to support themselves, their families, and their communities. Instead, it is critical that we are proposing solutions and doing our parts to fight climate change. It is vital that all species are taken into account in climate change related decisions to maximize safety for all.

Poaching 

The killing of tigers for their pelts or parts to be used in Chinese medicine has become less problematic in more recent years, however, is a primary culprit for the tiger population being endangered today. Tiger parts such as teeth and bone have been used in Chinese medicine to cure different ailments—creating a demand in range countries for tiger parts. This hunting has significantly decreased as anti-poaching campaigns and units have been increasingly successful in conserving the beautiful cats. 

Good News For Tigers?

In recent years we have seen tiger populations get steadier and even begin to grow again! This is amazing news as these large carnivores are critical in maintaining balance in their ecosystems. With an increasing tiger population, it is important to continue letting these individuals be wild rather than utilizing them for tourism. The use of tigers in captivity is harmful to individual welfare as well as the overall species population. As always, the future of tiger tourism will only follow the demand. As long as there are tourists wanting to interact with tigers, there will be facilities chaining them up and sedating them so that humans can get close without potentially being injured or killed. It is up to us to spread awareness about this cruel practice in order to reduce the demand because as long as there are people who are unaware of the inhumane practice, we cannot expect change.