Celebrating International Tiger Day
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Today is International Tiger Day – a day to celebrate and help protect the largest, and arguably the most iconic, of all big cats. 🐯
Tigers (Panthera tigris) are one of the most beloved animals on earth – everyone recognizes and loves these charismatic cats! Unfortunately, this claim to fame has also pushed them to the brink of extinction and is causing them to face horrible suffering in captivity.
Tigers are poached and farmed for traditional medicines, used as props in the exotic animal selfie industry, and bred in captivity under the guise of conservation.
Sadly, due to poaching, habitat destruction, and other human activities, wild tiger populations have dropped by around 97% over the last 100 years! While Tigers could once be found roaming all over Asia, they are now only found in the wild in 13 countries including: India, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Russia, China, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam.
With only around 3,900 tigers left in the wild, tigers are listed as an endangered species on the International Union for Conversation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species. This means they are at high risk of extinction in the wild if nothing is done to protect them and their wild habitat.
Shockingly, in North America, more tigers are kept in captivity than are left in the wild.
While this may sound like a positive for conservation, zoos, tiger entertainment centers, and other “solutions” that hold tigers captive are poor answers to the threats that tigers face today. The vast majority of tigers held in captivity will never be released into the wild, their captivity does not contribute to efforts to increase the global wild tiger population.
These magnificent cats also suffer immensely in captivity.
In captivity, a tiger’s natural behaviours and movements are extremely restricted, causing boredom, and frustration. These tigers often show stereotypical – abnormal and repetitive – behaviours, such as pacing, which is an indication that the animal is trying to cope with the stresses they experience in captivity.
Tigers are wild animals, not pets, not props, not entertainers.
How can you help protect tigers?
Across Canada, thousands of wild cats, including tigers, are trapped in cages, and subjected to nonstop suffering just to entertain tourists. The Jane Goodall Bill is fighting to stop this.
If passed, this ground-breaking piece of legislation will end the commercial trade of tigers, and more than 800 other wild animal species through breeding and acquisition bans and will prohibit the use of them for entertainment.
Let’s end the nonstop suffering now. End wildlife entertainment in Canada for good. Sign the petition to support the Jane Goodall Bill.
Top photo: iStock. by Getty Images