After a century of decline, overall wild tiger numbers are starting to tick upward. An estimated 3,900 tigers remain in the wild, but much more work is needed to protect them.

Among the many threats they face, poaching is the most immediate. Every part of the tiger, from whisker to tail, has been found in illegal wildlife markets. Even countries with strong enforcement of tiger protection laws continue to fight a never-ending battle against poaching, which is now often orchestrated by transnational crime syndicates that rake in significant profits from wildlife crime and undermine the security of local communities.

Tigers have also lost an estimated 95% of their historical range. Their habitat has been destroyed, degraded, and fragmented by human activities. The clearing of forests for agriculture and timber, as well as the building of road networks and other development activities, pose serious threats to tiger habitats.

As people and tigers increasingly compete for space, tigers are forced to leave protected areas in search of food and to establish territories, leading to conflict with local communities.

What WWF is Doing

Preserving and connecting tiger habitat:

Tigers need secure areas to thrive, and WWF works to protect and connect their fragile habitat by building local capacity to manage protected areas, coordinating with partners to manage core tiger areas and corridors, and addressing human-wildlife conflict and the impacts of infrastructure development in tiger landscapes.

Monitoring tigers and their prey: Monitoring is essential to achieving WWF’s goal of doubling wild tiger populations. By employing camera traps, tracking technologies and DNA collected from scat (droppings), they analyze the progress of tiger populations in order to adapt strategies and make conservation decisions based on strong science and field experience.

Eliminating tiger trade: Trade in tiger parts and products is a major threat to wild tiger survival. Together with TRAFFIC, the global wildlife trade monitoring network, WWF implements strategies to help governments stop wildlife criminal networks, shut down black markets and change consumer behavior.

Protecting tigers: WWF works to enforce zero tolerance for tiger poaching across Asia. They help build the capacity of government enforcement units in each landscape and install the best new technologies to assist local agencies by achieving conservation results. WWF helps improve the effectiveness of wildlife rangers by training personnel from enforcement agencies, and also works to ensure that communities have a stake in conservation, as they are typically the best stewards and managers of their natural resources.