A Tiger’s Fight For Survival

An Analysis and Persuasion of Help Against Poaching Tigers

Christopher Poythress, PETA Board Member
PETA
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Table of Contents

Executive Summary…………………………………………………………………...2
Tigers in Danger……………………………………………………………………... 3
Why Are They in Danger?............................................................................... 3
Why Is This Important………………………………………………………. 4
How To Prevent Their Extinction…………………………………………………… 4
Recommendation of Solutions………………………………………………..4
How Does This Solution Work……………………………………………………….5
How Does This Help The Tiger?......................................................................5
What Is Needed To Make This Happen?..........................................................6
Plan For Implementation……………………………………………………..6
Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………... 6
References…………………………………………………………………………… 7

Figures

Figure 1…………………………………………………………………………… 2
Figure 2…………………………………………………………………………… 3
Figure 3…………………………………………………………………………… 4
Figure 4…………………………………………………………………………… 4

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Executive Summary

The tiger is considered a symbol of royalty and power in many ancient and modern cultures. The
Indian culture, specifically, sees the tiger as a symbol of magnificence, power, beauty, and
fierceness has been associated with bravery and valor (“History of Tigers”, 2010). The history
of the tiger is a mystery. Due to the mystery surrounding the tiger’s history, there are many
different beliefs as to how they came to be. “The Naga of northeast India believe that when the
earth was young, the ancient scaly pangolin, a wondrous anteater, allowed the mother of the first
spirit, the first man and the first tiger to emerge through his deep burrow onto the verdant earth.
The legend then goes on to say the tiger’s brother, the first man, had to kill his tiger brother; then
cover the tiger’s bones in his warm body for ten years until hundreds of tigers sprang forth and
populated the plains and forests” (Green 7). Of course, scientists now believe that tigers evolved
more than two million years ago and entered India after the last Ice Age. Scientists were able to
conclude this using limited tiger fossils.
Although there is some fossil evidence, there
is still uncertainty over the origins of the tiger
by peers across all fields because of the
scarcity of fossils. According to Alan Turner,
‘Despite the outline understanding of felid
evolution that we now have, it should be
stressed that we still lack any clear idea of the
immediate ancestry of the living species or the
more precise pattern of relationships between
them.’ (Green 7-8). The consensus is the
classification for their order is carnivora and
their species is Panthera Tigris, which is the
closest description of the tiger that can date
the animal back sixty million years
Figure 1. The Phylogenetic relationships among tigers ago.
(“The Tiger Subspecies Revised” 2017)

The tiger also plays an important part in its environment’s ecosystem. The tiger inhabits
grasslands, evergreen forests, tropical rainforests, and mangrove swamps. The tiger also ranges
from Asia, Russia, Sumatra, and Southeast Asia (“The Role of Tigers in the Ecosystem” 2018).
The tiger is the primary predator in its region, because of this the tigers is very important in
keeping a healthy ecosystem through hunting. Through the control of animal populations, this in
turn controls primary producer (vegetation) eaten by tiger prey (“The Role of Tigers in the
Ecosystem” 2018). Through this it is easy to see why the tiger is regarded in many cultures as a
symbol of royalty and bravery.

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 The tiger is the primary predator in its region, because of
this the tigers is very important in keeping a healthy
ecosystem through hunting. Through the control of
animal populations, this in turn controls primary producer
(vegetation) eaten by tiger prey.

Tigers in Danger
Why Are They in Danger?

Because the tiger is a status symbol and

revered in many cultures, is the same reason it
is in constant danger of extinction. For years,
the tiger has been poached for their fur, teeth,
for sport, and for clothing. Due to poaching,
climate change, and human activity such as
building road networks, their environments are
being destroyed. Fewer tigers can survive in
small, scattered islands of habitat, which leads
to a higher risk of inbreeding and makes tigers
more vulnerable to poaching as they venture Figure 2. Poaching Statistics (“Poaching Facts”
2021).

beyond protected areas to establish their territories (World Wildlife Organization). Through the
dwindling of the habitats, the tiger’s natural prey started to deplete as well. As natural prey
dwindled and tigers consumed more domestic animals, retaliation by farmers has increased.
Removal of habitat due to human civilization also increases the likelihood of tiger and human
conflict (“The Role of Tigers in the Ecosystem” 2018). Not only is poaching a problem;
government approved tiger hunting is also a problem. Some governments see the tiger as a
nuisance, and therefore call for the hunting and extermination of tigers. Susie Green says in
Tiger that this is done because of humans’ feelings of superiority over animals. “…the Catholic
Church, which decrees that animals have no souls and rejoices in the Christian creation story
which states that God created animals solely for the benefit of man. According to Catholicism
they have no claim to existence in their own right and are simply to be used.” (Green 113).
While the Christian faith, says God gave dominion over the animals its context was to control the

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population not to make it go extinct. Through the years of the tiger being poached, the
population has gone from 100,000 to just about 4,000 tigers
remaining in the world.

Figure 3. Population comparison map (“Tigers in Decline” Chen). Figure 4. Tiger Hunting Ad (Green 108).

Why Is This Important?

The understanding of what is happening to the tiger species is vital to the protection and
prevention of this magnificent animal. It is important to know the tiger’s history, environment,
and ecosystem to know how to combat the poachers, but also to be able to replenish its natural
habit, so that the tiger and all other lifeforms vital to its ecosystem can thrive. It is also
important to note that a trend to extinction for one species can spread into other species once the
first is extinct. If the trend spreads, it can have catastrophic consequences. Because non-
predatory animals control the vegetation and predatory animals control the animal population in
respective ecosystems, the continuation of poaching and extinctions can lead to the collapse of
animal and plant life, which will eventually result in the extinction of humans. While it is vital
to control the animal population, the extreme of poaching and hunting for sport is harmful to
ecosystems. Even a notorious animal slaughterer Jim Corbett was quoted in Tiger by Susie
Green, as saying, “The taking of a photograph give far more pleasure to the sportsman than the
acquisition of a trophy.” It signaled that even dedicated hunters like himself were beginning to
realize that the supply of new victims was becoming severely limited (Green 151).

How To Prevent Their Extinction?

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Recommendation of Solutions
This white paper document pleads to the World Wildlife Organization (WWO) on the tigers’
behalf, but you might ask how we can help. The following section will provide some solutions
to this problem. One solution is building capacity in range states by a combination of wildlife
sanctuaries and breeding to increase population. Another solution could be providing education,
advocacy, patrolling to prevent poaching and even tourism for tigers remain crucial to prevent
extinction (“The Role of Tigers in the Ecosystem” 2018). Through all the solutions found, the
most logical one to fund is the following: linking protected areas and ecological corridors. This
is the most common solution and newest solution found. This solution was found to be the best
and most logical. Tiger populations are already recovering thanks to linking protected areas and
ecological corridors. These transboundary corridors allow for greater wildlife movement. If
connected tiger habitat is conserved and protected elsewhere as well, hope remains that tiger
populations can grow again and remain sustainable in their role as apex predator (“The Role of
Tigers in the Ecosystem” 2018). More linking will give the tiger a wider range to thrive in than
the established sanctuaries. If we can accomplish this and combine it with getting government
protection over the land, the tiger and its ecosystem just might survive. With every good
solution comes problems, although the linking solution has great benefits, it does have some
drawbacks. One being that giving the tiger its original range could relocate locals inhabiting that
area. It will also detract from the expansion of big companies and other populations from
expanding into the area. The linking solutions positives still outweigh the negatives in terms of
conserving an entire ecosystem. The WCS (Wildlife Conservation Society) summarizes it best
in the following:
 Protect tigers and their habitat.
 Build capacity and link in range states.
 Reduce human-tiger conflict.
 Conduct scientific research on tigers to help inform conservation strategies.
 Promote tiger-friendly policies.
 Monitor tiger numbers, population trends, and threats to tigers and their habitats. (WCS)

How Does This Solution Work

How Does This Help The Tiger?

By linking protected areas and ecological corridors, this will give the tiger its natural habitat
back. The expanded area will promote the tigers to breed more, which in turn will increase it’s
population. This in combination with governmental protection of the linked sanctuaries will
keep the tiger population safe from poachers and illegal captors selling the tigers into captivity.
Constant surveillance of the area from several outposts set strategically throughout the area will

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deter the illegal criminals from the area. Finally, there will be a recovery of the ecosystem by
introducing the tiger’s natural prey and replanting the forestry for the tiger and other animals to
thrive and reproduce the depleted populations. PETA feels this should be the course of action
because over a few years we will start to see the new generations of tigers, which will repeat the
process until the population is back to what it was, and the tiger will be able to maintain their
population in their original habitat protected by the government.

What Is Needed To Make This Happen?

To make this a reality, PETA requests help from the WWO to help with the funding and
development of a research and development team. This team will be responsible for researching
how to get government protection and a land grant permission to link the land together. The
team will also develop the linking locations and the security outposts in the area to protect and
give the tiger enough room to thrive and breed to help the population growth and cut down on
the poaching. Once that is approved, research will need to be done on the tiger’s natural habitat;
then develop a plan to regrow the land once connected, so the tiger can thrive.

Plan For Implementation

After the research and development team develops a plan, the implementation process will begin.
The start of the implementation process will be to first get the governmental permissions to begin
reconnecting the tigers lost natural habitat. After reconnecting the habitat, we will start the
process of reforestation to give the tiger it’s ecosystem back and promote breeding. Finally, the
last step is to setup the security posts throughout the area to discourage poaching and illegal
trade.

Conclusion

These final statements reiterate the importance of the tiger as a symbol in cultures and in their
ecosystem to conserve not only the tiger and its environment, but also preserving integral parts of
other cultures. This cause is greater than us as mentioned in the paper that it could mean the
death of many other ecosystems leading to the death of humans in an extreme situation. The
importance of the tiger in being an apex predator bringing balance to the ecosystem is reason
enough to feel the need to protect this vital symbol of power. Finally, I want to thank all the
organizations that hear the tigers cry for help and support the cause to save them.

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References

Green, Susie. Tiger. Reaktion, 2006.

“History of Tigers.” NDTV.com, www.ndtv.com/photos/news/history-of-tigers-6783#photo-

69275. Accessed 16 July 2021.

“The Role of Tigers in the Ecosystem.” Sciencing, 2018, sciencing.com/role-tigers-ecosystem-

7638501.html.

World Wildlife Fund. “Tiger | Species | WWF.” World Wildlife Fund, 2000,
www.worldwildlife.org/species/tiger.

Wildlife Conservation Society. “Tigers - WCS.org.” Wcs.org, WCS.org, 2019,

www.wcs.org/our-work/species/tigers.