As tiger habitat shrinks and human populations expand, conflict between tigers and people causes suffering on both sides. Managing this conflict effectively is essential for tiger conservation and welfare.
Tiger-human conflict generates welfare harms on both sides of the boundary. Tigers involved in conflict are often already in poor condition — injured, ageing, or nutritionally stressed — and the conflict zone itself is a stressful environment of unfamiliar human activity. Injured tigers caught in snares set for deer or other prey suffer prolonged, often fatal wounds. Retaliatory poisonings cause slow, painful deaths. Translocated problem tigers experience the acute stress of capture and transport and the challenge of establishing themselves in new territory. Meanwhile, the humans experiencing livestock loss suffer economic devastation and psychological stress from living in fear of predation. Addressing root causes — habitat connectivity allowing tigers to disperse from crowded areas and economic support for affected communities — improves welfare on all sides.