Are We Too Late?
With wild tiger numbers now dwindling at just 3,000, the tiger, along with the polar bear and others, has become just one of the many symbols exposing how human activities are now taking a huge toll on the natural world. With the potential exception of climate change (a natural process amplified by human factors), almost all threats facing the tiger population today are man-made, and the consequences of our actions are already evident.
Three out of nine subspecies of tiger have already been declared extinct in the last 80 years, the most recent being the Javan tiger, which died out in the 1980s. Four of the remaining subspecies are now considered to be endangered, with another two being ‘critically’ endangered. It has been predicted that, unless efforts to conserve tigers improve and threats are majorly reduced, all wild tigers will become extinct within the next 10 years.
Threats to the tiger population have been on the rise in recent years, especially due to rapid urbanization and population growth in countries such as India and China, where the surviving tigers are becoming increasingly more threatened. In fact, the Indian population has risen by 50% over the last 20 years, whilst China’s population has also doubled over the last 40, with 99% of its original forest habitat having been destroyed in the process. These population pressures have seen an increase in ‘tiger-human conflict’, where both compete for the same resources- the land being the most important of these. Indonesia, for example, home to the Sumatran tiger, balances the same population of the US on almost 10% of the land area, leaving close to all of Indonesia’s lowland forest to be cleared for rice cultivation. The need for more land has therefore led to increased deforestation and clearing (by burning), which has killed tigers in the process, whilst forcing those that survive into smaller and smaller habitats. The new land is most commonly used for farming crops or livestock, and protective or frightened farmers will often turn to shooting or snaring tigers to keep them off the land.
The last remaining tigers are now also facing the threat of illegal hunters and poachers, as urban growth and settlements encroach on forests and habitats. Here, some living in relatively poor conditions rely on hunting the tigers to sell their skins on illegal markets, or their bones for use in traditional medicines. Worst still, in some areas, local people are now hunting the same prey tigers do, though human hunters clearly have the upper hand. A lack of prey means a lack of food, leaving some tigers (especially cubs) to starve, and others to stalk more ambitious prey, including humans.
In total, tigers have lost almost 93% of their original territory, and the current habitats have become ‘fragmented’, whereby tiger communities are left isolated from each other due to human developments appearing randomly throughout forests, scattering the tigers between them. These smaller, more ‘concentrated’ tiger populations lead to a higher risk of inbreeding (which can result in genetic complications, leaving the cubs unlikely to survive), and again increasing the risk of hunters and poachers, who can more easily track and find the tigers in these smaller environments.
Climate change also poses a major threat to tiger populations, the largest of which is found in the Sundarbans- a mangrove forest on the northern coast of the Indian Ocean. Here, the land is home to the Bengal tigers, a region protected by the mangrove forest, which buffers incoming waves from storm surges and winds from cyclones. The predicted effects of global warming include a major increase in the number of natural hazards, especially in vulnerable areas such as India, the Bay of Bengal and Bangladesh. Rising sea levels also threaten to flood these coastal forests, with sea levels predicted to rise nearly a foot by 2070.
However, the future for tigers is changing. Though in the face of overwhelming threats conservation may seem like a lost cause, there are still numerous schemes worldwide that aim to increase and protect tiger populations. Wildlife conservationists have worked closely with governments to establish nature reserves, which ensure that the tigers are well fed and attended to when they are sick or injured. Most importantly, however, these reserves are protected by legislation: no one can build on, develop, or clear the land. Though there are limitations, it is technically more difficult for poachers to attack the tigers here. The land is well secured and patrolled by rangers, most of whom are locals who have been educated about the benefits of tiger conservation, and the factors that threaten this. Reserves range in size, but successful schemes have included the huge Xioaling in China, at 21 km², and Indonesia’s Kerinci Seblat, comparatively tiny at 14,846 km².
Another approach to saving the tigers has been adopted by the ‘Terai-Arc Landscape’ program, which aims to increase tiger numbers by reducing ‘habitat fragmentation’. They work to actively shape the landscape to increase accessibility between tiger territories, encouraging the remaining tigers to interact with each other, in areas that may have been previously inaccessible due to human developments or settlements. Other notable projects include ‘Project Tiger’ (which orchestrated the 1972 national ban on tiger hunting in India, as well as the Wildlife Protection Act), ‘Tigers Forever’ (which aims to increase tiger numbers in key areas by 50% in the next ten years) and the ‘Save the Tiger Fund’ (which has contributed over $10.6 million to more than 196 conservation schemes).
It is important to realise that saving the tigers doesn’t just help them, but it helps us too. By ensuring that tiger populations are well fed and well protected, we reduce the risk of them being hostile towards humans, who are now beginning to live and work even closer alongside tiger habitats in developing countries. In some areas, the tigers are a vital source of income for the community, as they generate revenue from tourism and other related industries, whilst many tiger conservation schemes also employ local people to implement their work. Most importantly, if the wild tiger population was to go extinct, then tigers would effectively disappear, becoming a species that you read about in textbooks, or see in films and television shows, but not one that you would ever have the chance to see for yourself.