The Thin End

The demand for 'traditional medicine'  is driving tigers to extinction.  Tiger farming feeding this demand fosters the market for poaching, increasing the threat to tigers in the wild.  The rising demand for tiger parts and rapid increase in price of tiger bone continues to be an irresistible incentive to poachers. According to the World Wildlife Fund, the number of tigers on tiger farms has escalated rapidly in recent years, with 7,000-8,000 tigers reportedly held in a large number of facilities throughout East and Southeast Asia – most notably in China, Thailand, Lao PDR and Vietnam. This captive population is estimated to be much higher than the remaining tigers in the wild, which are found across eleven countries. Each of these last remaining wild tigers is threatened by the illegal trade in their body parts – from their skins down to their bones – which are traded by criminals for profit on the black market. Breeding tigers for profit You mig...