WCS Tiger Campaign

The Wildlife Conservation Society has proudly worked to protect tigers throughout their range, beginning with field surveys in India by Dr. George Schaller in the 1960s. Reduced from 95 percent of their former abundance in a little over a century, the world's biggest cat is critically endangered today. However, WCS scientists are optimistic that tigers can in fact be saved using a combination of hard science and education. "There is a tremendous amount of good will toward the tiger," says WCS Conservation Zoologist, Dr. Ullas Karanth, one of the world's foremost experts on tigers in his homeland of India. "If conservationists can continue to convert this into action, then the prognosis for the tiger is very good."

Several years ago, Karanth and his team of biologists perfected the use of remote camera "traps" that are set up in tiger areas. Tigers pass an infra-red beam, which captures their image on film with no harm to the animal. By identifying individual tigers from their unique stripe pattern, Karanth accurately assessed populations in India's Nagarahole National Park - a known tiger stronghold. Today, he uses these and other techniques to safeguard tigers, and their prey species, in Ranthambore Tiger Reserve, Bandipur Wildlife Sanctuary in Karnataka, and other areas. Other WCS researchers have adopted Karanth's technique as a key tool for tiger conservation in various areas in Asia.

Hovering at approximately 500 animals, the Siberian or Amur tiger is restricted to the woodlands of the Russian Far East, though it occasionally strays into China and North Korea. WCS considers Siberian tigers "landscape species" because of the critical role they play in both protecting and balancing ecosystems. WCS researcher Dr. Dale Miquelle has studied this magnificent animal since 1992, teaming with Russian biologists to identify critical habitats and threats to tiger populations. In 1994 its numbers stood at only 150-200 animals, but due to an increase in protective measures its population has more than doubled since then.

WCS researchers Drs. Tim O'Brien and Margaret Kinnaird are working tirelessly, and under profoundly difficult conditions, to promote conservation and proper stewardship of Indonesia's rich biodiversity, including tigers in Bukit Barisan Selatan National Park in Sumatra. Using camera traps, their research team have uncovered not only tigers, but other large mammals including Sumatran rhino and Asian elephants. However, satellite images and Geographic Information System (GIS) mapping have revealed that threats to the park such as logging and land-clearing for agriculture have grown, forcing tigers into smaller areas. The next steps of their research will be to work closely with government officials and others to ensure that park boundaries are enforced.

WCS is one of the few conservation organizations actively working in Myanmar (formerly Burma), which up until a few years ago, had closed its borders to outsiders completely. In addition to conducting tiger conservation training workshops among Myanmar biologists and park guards, WCS scientists Drs. Alan Rabinowitz and Antony Lynam have conducted on-the-ground surveys, which have led to further protection of tiger habitat in Myanmar.

Since 1997, Dr. Antony Lynam has been extremely active in developing and implementing new strategies to census tigers in sites across Thailand. Following a tiger count in Khao Yai National Park, one of the critical habitats for tigers in the central part of the country, WCS's Thailand Program, along with the Global Survival Network, developed a plan to better protect the park's tigers. The plan, adopted by Thailand’s Royal Forest Department, now intensively trains rangers in wildlife surveying, protection and patrolling techniques. Lyman has also led recent surveys in Cambodia, where WCS's camera traps produced the first photographs of live tigers ever taken in the country. This project is a collaborative effort among WCS, World Wildlife Fund, and Cambodia's own environmental agencies, and builds on earlier training of park staff in the northeastern part of the country in 1999.

Under the leadership of Dr. Endi Zhang, WCS uses a two-pronged approach to tiger conservation in China. The first component, the Asia Conservation Communication Program, works to change the attitude of consumers of traditional Chinese medicines (TCM), which call for the use of tiger bone in many remedies. This demand alone has resulted the demise of wild tigers in many locations due to the high price a poacher can fetch by selling the big cat's bones. The program also targets students and practitioners of TCM, as well as media and legislators through an extensive public awareness program. The second component makes use of WCS's policy-level government contacts to foster cooperation between China, North Korea and Russia. WCS hopes to use these contacts to further protect wild Siberian tigers by establishing corridors of habitat that border all three countries.