Tiger farms in China, Vietnam, and Thailand hold thousands of captive tigers under poor welfare conditions, providing no conservation benefit while sustaining demand for tiger products that threatens wild populations.
Tigers on breeding farms live in conditions that bear no relationship to their ecological and behavioral needs. Solitary by nature and requiring large territories, farm tigers are confined in small cages with minimal stimulation. Overcrowding leads to chronic stress, stereotypic pacing, and social conflict. Cubs are separated from mothers for petting tourism operations, causing distress to both. Medical care is minimal and injuries from conspecific aggression go untreated. The false conservation rationale for tiger farms has been comprehensively rejected by conservation scientists, leaving only commercial trade in tiger products as the actual driver. These facilities represent some of the worst large-carnivore welfare conditions documented anywhere in the world.