WHEN PREDATOR BECOMES PREY
Tiger (lat. Panthera tigris) is one of the largest predators in the world. Agile and flexible, with a body designed for running, jumping and climbing, powerful jaws, and highly developed senses, tigers are superb hunters that can reach a weight of up to 300kg. It is estimated that they have been living on planet Earth for about 2 million years, however, through human activities in the last 150 years, their population in the wild has declined by approximately 97%. Today, it is estimated that only about 3,900 tigers still live in their natural habitats.
Historically speaking, hundreds of thousands of tigers inhabited wide areas of the Asian continent for about 2 million years. Today, the largest population of tigers is found in India, while their numbers in Siberia, Western Asia, the Indian Peninsula, the Korean Peninsula, South China, Southeast Asia, Java, Sumatra and Bali have significantly decreased, due to which it is estimated that today they occupy only about 7% of the territory where they once existed. The reason for this can mainly be found in various human activities that have caused the disappearance of the tiger's natural habitats.
Eight subspecies of tigers are known, of which the Bali, Javan and Caspian tigers are completely extinct, while the other five subspecies are considered seriously endangered. Indo-Chinese, Bengal, Siberian, South Chinese, and Sumatran tigers subspecies, which differ mainly in their size and the territory they come from, are also on the verge of extinction. The loss of their natural habitat caused by mining, logging, palm oil plantations, and the construction of settlements, roads and railways represent few of many reasons for their extinction. For hundreds of years, tigers have been in conflict with farmers who persecute them for killing their livestock, because large parts of the forests and their former habitats are no longer populated by wild tiger prey.
In the entertainment industry, tigers are exploited for the purpose of performing tricks and for various tourist attractions, and are kept in captivity for almost their entire lives. In zoos, circuses and different types of "farms", tigers are deprived of all their natural instincts and live a completely inappropriate and unnatural life, different from the one for which they are predisposed. Research conducted on this topic indicates that male tigers have a range of movement of approximately 267-300 km2, while the size of the range of movement for females is around 60-70 km2. They spend most of their lives closed in small and inappropriate cages or tied in short chains. Also, tigers are considered solitary animals, which spend most of their lives alone, while in captivity they are in most cases forced to stay in closed small spaces with other tigers, which often results in attacks and mutual injuries.
It is estimated that two tigers a week are taken by poachers from natural habitats. They generally do this while the tigers are still young, however prematurely alienating the cubs from their mothers only adds to the number of tigers who will never be able to integrate into the wild again. A tiger cub cannot survive without its mother until it is 18-24 months old, after which it separates from its mother in nature and begins to find its own territory. Wild tiger cubs rely on their mother to kill prey until they are able to hunt on their own, a slow and difficult process that takes up to two years. In captivity, however, cubs never learn hunting techniques, which is why they have no chance of independent life in their natural habitat.
Circuses and other forms of entertainment industry involving wild animals are also a big problem. Tigers are naturally afraid of fire, however in circuses they are often forced to perform tricks involving its presence, which is why they are constantly exposed to stress and various inhumane forms of torture intended to learn and perform tricks aimed at entertainment and profit. As a result of the keeping and training of feral cats for the entertainment industry and circus, over the past 25 years, more than 120 feral cats and over 20 people have died, as well as numerous injuries. Tigers are also actively exploited on tiger farms due to the demand for their skins as luxury carpets and home decor, as well as their bones, which are used to make traditional Asian medicine. The value of tiger bone used in traditional Chinese medicine depends on the location, so its price per kilogram ranges from 130$ in Nepal, $175 in Vietnam, and up to $300 in Russia.
In the last few years, a large number of different world organizations are actively fighting for the preservation of tigers and their survival in the wild. On the other hand, organizations that profit from tigers in the entertainment industry try to present their farms as shelters or sanctuaries, which, in their opinion, represent the only way for their survival. Thus, tourists, often unaware of the reality, visit such places and finance their work, thinking that they are thus helping tigers and their survival - but in fact, they are doing just the opposite. Estimates put the population of privately owned and captive tigers in the US alone at 5,000, while tiger farms across China, Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam number over 8,000.
Tigers are also exploited and abused in private wildlife collections as pets. It is important to note that while a caged tiger can be lucrative for a handful of private owners, a tiger in the wild plays a critical role in the delicate balance of the ecosystem. As keystone species, protecting them in their natural habitats has a number of other positive effects - from conserving the large number of other species with which they share their natural habitats, to protecting important watersheds and forests that millions of people rely on for drinking water and which as such, ultimately necessary to mitigate climate change.
