10 years of conservation: how many tigers left in the wild in Vietnam?

Hanoi (VNA) - While there are very few wild tigers left, the number of the registered captive big cats in Vietnam, mostly in private facilities, has increased from 97 in 2010 to 364 in 2021.

According to conservationists, there are only about five tigers recorded in the wild in Vietnam. However, individuals and businesses are seeing booming activities of tiger farming for non-commercial purposes, with the number of registered captive ones increasing year by year.

Conservation efforts

Yet, five is the figure projected by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) on the basis of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)’s estimates as of 2015. Since 2009, Vietnam has not recorded any tigers in the wild or conducted any national surveys of the animal.

In the face of tiger disappearance, at the Global Tiger Summit in Russia in 2010, Vietnam and 12 countries committed to doubling the number of wild tigers in the world by 2022 - the Year of the Tiger in the lunar calendar.

On April 16, 2014, the Vietnamese Prime Minister approved a 2014-2022 national programme on conserving tigers via protecting their habitat and gradually increasing their number.

However, the number of the tigers in the wild in Vietnam is still very small, while other countries such as India, Nepal, Bhutan, Russia and China have achieved certain success in increasing their number of wild tigers, helping to bring up the global tiger population from about 3,200 in 2010 to at least 3,890 in 2016.

Among the conservation methods, experts consider tiger farming a necessary solution to the restoration of the natural tiger population in Vietnam. As a result, the number of registered captive tigers, mostly in domestic private facilities, went up to 364 in 2021 from 97 in 2010.

However, compared with the conditions and objectives of "conservative tiger farming", the Education for Nature Vietnam (ENV) believes that none of the tiger breeding facilities in Vietnam are doing it right.

This is a long, expensive process that requires a specific plan and the close monitoring of a competent State agency, it said.

Echoing the view, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development said in 2012 that after conducting an assessment of tiger breeding facilities to report to the Prime Minister, they cannot distinguish tiger subspecies, which had led to inbreeding. As a result, the F1 generation was born without the ability to adapt, impacting the conservation of wild tigers in Vietnam.

Tightening management of tiger farms

According to the ENV, in the future, the ministry plans to conduct an investigation and make statistics and management records of all tigers being raised in the country. The body will also establish a national database system for the management and identification of farmed tigers through genetic profiles, images, and electronic chips, among others.

Bui Thi Ha, Vice Director of the ENV, said the works will only be effective if implemented simultaneously with a clear policy to strictly control the breeding activities and handle tiger deaths at registered facilities.

The ENV proposed the Government and competent state agencies complete relevant legal provisions to tighten the management of tiger farms in Vietnam.

In the immediate future, authorities need to issue a specific policy on tiger farming, including regulations on birth control for captive tigers, to ensure that the tiger population is maintained at a level that only supports the conservation work, as well as developing monitoring mechanisms to avert any illegal wildlife trade.

In the long term, it is necessary to consider developing a separate legal document to prevent farm owners from taking advantage of their cover of non-commercial tiger farming facilities to carry out illegal wild animal trade./.