How Is Poaching Contributing To The Decline in Wild Tiger Populations?

The Facts

Tigers range covers a vast amount of areas in Asia, such as China, India, Malaysia, Indonesia, Myanmar, Nepal, and also non-asian countries like Russia. According to statistics, currently in these areas, the approximate population of tigers is:

Tiger Range (Country) Approximate Current Tiger Population

Russia - 490

China - Less than 50

India - 2,245 - 2,967

Malaysia - Less than 200

Indonesia - 371

Nepal - 235

Myanmar - 22 to 30

Thailand - 150 to 200

Vietnam - Extinct

Tigers are on the brink of extinction. We’ve known this for a long time, so much so that since July of 1975, tigers have been protected by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). Because of this, it ensures that any trade of all tiger species is controlled and does not affect their wild population and/or threaten their survival. However, even though this is in place, there are still illegal markets that trade in tiger products - most of which are bought and sold on the black market. Due to this, there has been a 96% decline in tiger numbers in the past 100 years, and t

he amount of tigers in captivity is more than that in the wild. For instance, approximately less than 4,000 tigers live in the wild, whereas at least 8,000 tigers are kept in captivity.

Poaching Factors Causing Wild Tigers Populations To Decrease

From extensive literature research, both online and within books, poaching has become one of the primary reasons for the constant decrease in tiger populations, for example, between 2000 and 2012, at least 1,425 tigers were killed by poachers. Poaching is used by poachers to make a profit off of the bones, which they sell illegally on the black market. Bones and other body parts of a tiger are used in a multitude of Chinese medicines, but due to the demand being so high - and there not being enough tigers to meet this demand - the prices for tiger parts have increased significantly over the past few years. Prices have been as high as $50,000! (Which is approximately equivalent to £40,500 in the UK).

However, there have been a large number of conservation projects that aim to prevent human-tiger conflict, along with reducing the illegal poaching and trading of body parts. By improving the relationship between the locals and the wild tiger populations, less killing will occur out of both spite and misunderstanding. A lot of reasons why tigers are killed is due to this misunderstanding - not realizing the effects increased habitation loss, poaching and retaliatory killing is having. They are more likely to retaliate, and thus, humans will retaliate back. It’s a continuous cycle, which can be stopped by organizations - such as WWF - providing information on how to live in peace with the big cats that inhabit the same areas as humans. Another project that collected field data on poaching is th

e Siberian Tiger Project. This data details that poaching rates are currently exceeding 15%, which in turn is going to affect the wild female adult population. Why just females? Well, it has been shown that continuous poaching of tigers can reduce the genetic variability, which can further ‘reduce population viability due to inbreeding depression’.

What Is The Overall Effect Of Poaching On A Tiger’s Life?

The wild population of tigers do not meet the high demand of medical related tiger products, moreover, because of this there is a high demand for tiger parts on the black market, going for drastically high prices. However, even though tiger parts are illegally sold on the black market, a large majority of poor people in remote villages use this as a way of gaining income to support their families. Even though the poaching of tigers is illegal, the fact that a large amount of people in poorer regions use it as an income gives insight into just how bad the economic crisis is at this current time. But this is still no excuse to kill and sell tiger parts. There needs to be a way to reduce the demand for illegal tiger products, for example providing alternative ways of gaining income that don’t affect wild animal and plant populations.

Although there are laws and legislation protecting tigers, a lot of the time they cannot be enforced due to poachers being sly in the way that they kill, transport and sell tigers. Poaching networks are well organised and, because it is an illegal act, resources are not available for hire to poachers. Moreover, another reason why these poachers are not being prosecuted is because the law enforcement in that area are not educated thoroughly on where these illegal acts take place, popular routes used by poachers, and spots poachers tend to re-visit. If law enforcement in these areas acquired the necessary knowledge of these factors, then the wild tiger population is likely to be better protected and more poachers prosecuted.

Although a lot can be done to prevent and reduce the illegal poaching of tigers, tiger populations will still be vulnerable and could go extinct in the future due to demographic and environmental ‘stochasticity’. This means that random effects, such as environmental changes, can affect population and community dynamics.