Tiger farms in China, Vietnam, and other Asian countries hold thousands of tigers for commercial purposes including traditional medicine and skin products, causing severe welfare suffering with little conservation value.
Tiger welfare in commercial breeding farms is severely compromised through overcrowding, barren environments, inappropriate social groupings, and management focused on production rather than welfare. Animals in these facilities show chronic stress behaviors and physical deterioration from inadequate space and enrichment. The conservation justification for tiger farming is contradicted by evidence that captive breeding farms have not reduced poaching of wild tigers. The welfare and conservation case against tiger farming is overwhelming, yet political and economic pressures have prevented effective enforcement of existing prohibitions.