Year Of The Tiger? (PHOTOS): Threats Facing The Tiger

It may be the chinese Year of the Tiger, but not from where the tigers are standing. The Bali, Javan, and Caspian tigers have already gone extinct, while the remaining six sub-species (Amur, Bengal, Indochinese, Malayan, South China and Sumatran) are critically endangered. According to the World Wildlife Fund, with as few as 3,200 surviving in the wild, the tiger faces extinction by the next Year of the Tiger in 2022. This isn't helped by the fact that in some parts of the world, tigers are worth more dead than alive. We're taking a look at how the tiger ended up in its current situation and what is being done to save them this Year of the Tiger.

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Tiger Pelts

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Having skins have become a status symbol among China's rich, with pelts going for $20,000. According to The New York Times, the biggest threat to Asia's tigers is China's appetite for tiger parts.

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Having skins have become a status symbol among China's rich, with pelts going for $20,000. According to The New York Times, the biggest threat to Asia's tigers is China's appetite for tiger parts.

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Biggest Tiger Problem

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Can Overcome it The Worst

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5 Worst Tiger Crimes

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5 Worst Tiger Crimes

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Comments

[Samantha Ipanema]

06:16 AM on 03/12/2010

Terrible sad to see . I don't have respect for people like that.

[Republitarian]

06:36 PM on 03/08/2010

Not if they chase p0rn stars and cheat on their wives.

[LyssaBarnes]

06:23 PM on 03/08/2010

Oh, I hope so. Tigers are my favorite big cats.

I say we would have better species conservation if we required humans to subject themselves to the same treatment as animals.

[hypnotoad72]

06:48 PM on 03/08/2010

We already do. It's called "free market".

[CheechandBruno]

02:00 PM on 03/08/2010

So what are those freaks going to wear and eat if they kill all the endangered species? Sick...humans are such parasites, its depressing

[LyssaBarnes]

09:35 PM on 03/08/2010

Soilent Green coats.

Uck.

[PartisanLove]

01:54 PM on 03/08/2010

all the nonsense medicine and black market demand in China is killing quite a lot of species for absolutely no good reason. Maybe we could pressure China by taxing our imports with a provision on protecting animals. Hey, I can dream

[ChaiKat]

01:46 PM on 03/08/2010

It is beyond me how humans can bring a species to extinction and not bat an eyelash. Those who hunt these beautiful creatures don't care that they are wiping them out. It is sad beyond words.

[Bearangaria]

01:12 PM on 03/08/2010

There is no "top 5 worst" in this. It's ALL the worst. It's ALL bad.
And it's all leading up to us. Shame on humanity. Shame on us all.

[techcafe]

11:52 AM on 03/08/2010

"species continually disappear at a background extinction rate estimated at about one species per million per year, with new species replacing the lost in a sustainable fashion. Occasional mass extinctions convulse this orderly norm, followed by excruciatingly slow recoveries as new species emerge from the remaining gene-pool, until the world is once again repopulated by a different catalogue of flora and fauna."

"Today we're living through the sixth great extinction, sometimes known as the Holocene extinction event. Harmful as our forebears may have been, nothing compares to what's under way today. Throughout the 20th century the causes of extinction - habitat degradation, overexploitation, agricultural monocultures, human-borne invasive species, human-induced climate-change."

"based on the last century's recorded extinctions - the current rate of extinction is 100 times the background rate. But the eminent Harvard biologist Edward O Wilson, and other scientists, estimate that the true rate is more like 1,000 to 10,000 times the background rate."

"The majority of life on Earth has never been - and will never be - known to us. It is predicted that our present course will lead to the extinction of half of all plant and animal species by 2100."

read more:
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/animal-extinction--the-greatest-threat-to-mankind-397939.html

[Hugatreetoday]

11:46 AM on 03/08/2010

This makes me so very sad. My soul aches. :( Reprehensible, selfish, arrogant humans destroy yet another species and ecosystem. It sickens me.

[ivquatch]

11:43 AM on 03/08/2010

They love pepper/hate cinnamon.

[socialmistfit]

11:34 AM on 03/08/2010

Give them food stamps, subsidized housing and socialized healthcare and I'm sure their species will thrive.

[StopMakingSense2]

11:29 AM on 03/08/2010

It's questionable if humanity can be saved and we intend to take everything else with us. So short answer, bye bye tigers.. It's all about us or me more specifically.

[Amadahy]

07:06 PM on 03/08/2010

Unfortunately, I share your cynicism StopMakingSense2. Like other endangered animals, one of the main problems isn't just that they're worth more dead than alive; it's that humans are moving into their areas and pushing them out.

"Tragically, the remaining six subspecies risk the same fate as the Javan and Caspian because of illegal wildlife trade, poaching, and conflict with people."

Put another way, people with large families have and will have a greater impact on wildlife and endangered species in particular. Larger families means the kids from those families will be moving out and having families of their own, requiring more space to live, and the problem will get worse. It's already happening in Colorado, for example, where people are moving into cat territory and more are getting killed by big cats every year. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/05/mountain-lion-kills-dog-t_n_488254.html

So what will it take in the United States? Government controlled family size, like in China? (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One-child_policy) How many people think that will actually happen in our lifetime in the United States in this political climate? We can't even agree where we're going to get our energy from.

[Amadahy]

07:19 PM on 03/08/2010

It's going to take individual citizens making a sacrifice..in the form of not having large families. So who wants to start the debate on limiting family sizes in order to protect wildlife/nature? Are we there yet? How many more species going extinct, plants or animals, will it take for us to be convinced it's time to take action?

[zippitydoo]

11:27 AM on 03/08/2010

I love Tigers!

Tiger and Leopard in love!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRRNdNrh1g4

[AVG75]

10:38 AM on 03/08/2010

We need to downsize the human population by 90%... wiping out China would be a great start...

[Ann Joyce]

10:51 AM on 03/08/2010

fanned

[katwright]

12:51 PM on 03/08/2010

Where would we buy our "original" L. Vitton from?

[frederickpdog]

10:22 AM on 03/08/2010

If tigers didn't live in such corrupt places they would be easier to protect. Like many endangered species the economies of the countries they live in are corrupt. Making easy money from drugs and poaching are a good opportunity for their inhabitants to make a living. If the tigers are to be saved it needs to be through political and economic reform.