I’ve done a lot of writing over the past twenty years on tigers. Here are the latest figures I read on a site that was conducting a quiz on your knowledge of tigers.

It’s estimated there are only 3,890 tigers currently left in the wild.

“Between 2000 and 2015 alone, at least 1,755 tigers were captured or killed. That’s almost half the current wild tiger population.”

“The wild tiger population has declined by 96% in the past 100 years.”

Back in 1998 I read an estimate that indicated there might be 2,500 wild tigers remaining. Based on the latest prediction, that 2,500 number should have been 5,645. These higher figures can probably be attributed to better monitoring techniques. But poachers have taken almost half the population in fifteen years. Read my paper This Studying is Killing Us. I wrote it back in 2000. The major animal organizations need to funnel the donated dollars into anti-poaching and not research. We don’t need more scientists studying tigers. We need people with guns killing poachers!

Update 08/29/2024

From the World Wildlife Fund. “Based on the best available information, tiger populations are stable or increasing in India, Nepal, Bhutan, Russia and China. About 5,574 tigers remain in the wild, according to the Global Tiger Forum, but much more work is needed to protect this species if we are to secure its future in the wild.”