There were once tens of thousands of tigers roaming the vast and dense jungles of Asia. But meanwhile there are more tigers living in captivity than in the wild. The largest population of tigers lives not in Asia but in the USA. The current number of captive tigers in the US exceeds the number of wild tigers in all of Asia. The World Wide fund for Nature (WWF) estimates that there are about 5,000 captive tigers living in the US and barely 3,200 tigers in the wild, with their numbers declining more and more.
"thousands of these big cats are still found in backyards, urban apartments, sideshows, truck stops and private breeding facilities"
"Only six percent of the U.S. captive tiger population resides in zoos and other facilities accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums. The rest are found in other private hands—some regulated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, some under state regulation, and some under virtually no regulation at all."
"In many jurisdictions, people can legally keep a tiger on their property without reporting it to local officials or neighbors. In some states, it is easier to buy a tiger than to adopt a dog from a local animal shelter."
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