Containing market hunting, tiger poaching, and the trade in tiger parts and products will require an ongoing commitment calling for heroic individual and organizational effort. The partnership between zoos and other conservation organizations to save the tiger and its habitat is significant and expanding. More tigers live in zoos today than live in the wild, and these animals provide a hedge against the tiger's total extinction. Should reintroduction of tigers become feasible, zoo tigers could be used in that effort. But the primary conservation goal of most zoos today is to support conservation programs on the ground and to keep endangered species, such as tigers, alive and well where they live in the wild.
Zoos also offer unparalleled opportunities for education.
Zoos reach large audiences within and outside of tiger range states through their exhibition, education, and training programs. Zoos are also the only places most people will ever see a living, breathing, roaring tiger. If people are to be partners in efforts to secure the tiger's future, the information and education programs are among the highest priorities. And people must be partners, or these efforts will fail. The National Zoo's new Great Cats exhibit is designed to help foster this support.