Tiger conservation depends fundamentally on adequate prey populations, and prey depletion is a primary driver of tiger decline and human conflict.
Tiger welfare cannot be separated from the welfare of their prey base. A tiger in a forest without sufficient prey faces chronic malnutrition and the welfare costs of hunger and failed hunts. As prey decline, tigers range more widely, encounter humans more often, and resort to livestock predation — setting up the conflict spirals that lead to retaliatory killing. Protecting prey species from hunting is therefore both a tiger welfare and a tiger conservation intervention. The welfare of prey animals themselves is also affected by hunting pressure that creates unnaturally fragmented, stressed populations.