Tigers in captivity face welfare challenges related to their large territory requirements, solitary nature, and cognitive complexity, alongside their role in conservation breeding programs.
Tiger welfare in zoos requires genuine investment in cognitive enrichment and appropriate space rather than providing large animals in small, impoverished enclosures as prestige exhibits. The evidence that many captive tigers cannot contribute to conservation - because they lack wild behavioral competence or there is no habitat for release - shifts the ethical justification toward welfare quality rather than conservation benefit. Zoos must justify individual animal welfare on its own terms.