World Wildlife Fund

BREAKING GOOD NEWS! World Bank debunks tiger farming benefits (released July 9, 2009) Experimenting with tiger farming is too risky and could drive wild tigers further toward extinction, the World Bank told a key international wildlife trade meeting today. WWF endorsed the World Bank’s call for countries to ban tiger farming because of the uncertainty that it will have for the long-term conservation of wild tigers. Read statements by the World Bank, and the International Tiger Coalition.

WWF is working on every front to save wild tigers and stop the sale of tiger products, from patrolling the forests where tigers live to galvanizing international law enforcement to go after smuggling syndicates. Hard-fought bans on tiger trade have significantly reduced the killing of wild tigers for their skins and bones.

But a threat is growing from commercial facilities in China that have bred more than 5,000 tigers in captivity for the purpose of reigniting trade in tiger products. The owners of these facilities, called "tiger farms", are pressuring Chinese authorities to lift the country’s successful 16-year-old ban and let them legally sell tiger products.

We can't let that happen.

Tiger farming fast facts

Click photo to start
This photo gallery contains a selection of tiger farm images -- some very graphic -- from the Xiongsen Bear and Tiger Mountain village in Guilin, China. Farms like these are selling tiger bone wine and other products, and lobbying for the lifting of a 16-year ban on trade in tiger parts that would re-ignite demand for tiger parts that could jeopardize wild tiger populations.
© STC

• The tiger is the largest of the Asian big cats.
• The tiger population has decreased by about 95 percent since 1900. There are only around 4,000 tigers in the wild.
• All commercial tiger trade has been banned since 1987 by an international treaty, but national trade is subject to each country's laws.
• China outlawed domestic tiger trade in 1993, but entrepreneurs there have bred more than 5,000 tigers in captivity – more than exist in the wild – in the hopes that they can get the Chinese government to lift its ban.
• In 2007, as the result of a campaign by WWF, TRAFFIC and the International Tiger Coalition, the international treaty convention charged with regulating international trade in endangered species approved a resolution opposing the raising of tigers for commercial trade. Still the breeding centers continue to operate.

Learn more about WWF's work to save tigers in the wild

Track tigers with WWF experts

© WWF-US/Dr. Shannon Barber-Meyer

Dr. Shannon Barber-Meyer, tiger conservation program officer

“Piercing out of the wild jungle, shine the tiger’s eyes. The white and black facial ruff is strikingly brilliant against the shadows.”

Join Shannon as she treks through tiger country in south and south-east Asia. These versatile creatures roam through a wide range of rapidly-shrinking habitats across the region. Read her first-hand account of narrowly avoiding a charging bull elephant and her unique experiences in the field as she travels through Cambodia, Thailand, Nepal, India and Indonesia. Read the full story.

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Get the facts on tigers

Where do tigers live?

Amur-Heilong	Eastern-Himalayas
Borneo & Sumatra	Mekong