Tigers are among the most iconic zoo animals, yet their welfare needs — wide ranging, solitary, with strong predatory motivation — create significant challenges for captive management.
Tiger welfare in zoos requires addressing the fundamental mismatch between solitary wide-ranging predators and enclosed captive spaces. Stereotypic pacing — one of the most visible welfare indicators in zoo carnivores — is particularly prevalent in tigers and reflects chronic frustration of ranging and hunting motivation. Best-practice facilities address this through complex, changeable environments with strong olfactory enrichment that activates investigatory and hunting behaviours, varied feeding methods that require effort and manipulation, access to water features for swimming, and spaces large enough to allow genuine ranging within the enclosure. Social management requires careful attention — tigers in inappropriate groupings experience chronic social stress. The conservation mandate for tiger populations in zoos provides a rationale for maintaining captive populations, but this obligation must be paired with genuine investment in welfare quality.