Wildlife Conservation India Project #30333

Project C.A.T.+WWF: Double the Number of Tigers

by World Wildlife Fund - US

Project Report | Mar 2, 2026
Project C.A.T+WWF: Five tiger cubs spotted

By Jenna Bailey | Program Officer

NCTLNP

Five tiger cubs captured on video in Northeast China

This remarkable footage is a testament to years of conservation efforts in the region.

For the first time ever, a tigress and her five healthy cubs were filmed by camera traps in China. Wild tigers typically give birth to between one and four cubs, so five cubs represent an extraordinary and hopeful sign for the species’ recovery.

Repopulating China’s tiger landscapes

The world’s largest protected area for tigers, The Northeast China Tiger and Leopard National Park, sits along the border of Russia and China. This area is a vital corridor for big cats, and this landscape connectivity will be crucial for these five cubs as they grow and eventually move away from their mother once they are mature enough to establish their own territory.

But with roaming tigers, comes increased risks including human-wildlife conflict, poaching, and habitat degradation. WWF-China is supporting the Northeast China Tiger and Leopard National Park and local communities to remove deadly snares and prevent poaching, implement advanced monitoring technology for rangers, develop human-wildlife coexistence strategies, strengthen community participation, increase tiger prey populations, and restore and connect key tiger habitats.

Protecting people

China’s tiger population has increased from an all-time low of 20 individuals in 2010, to around 70 today. Many communities in Northeast China have not lived near tigers before, creating a generational gap in past knowledge and experience in managing encounters with big cats. In response to this, WWF-China has been supporting the government in developing human-tiger coexistence strategies in anticipation of an increase in the tiger population in the region.

This approach includes building real-time alert cameras along roads that lead to villages in the buffer zone of the park, close to where the tigress and cubs were recorded. When a tiger passes by, the system sends instant notifications to rangers’ mobile devices. Rangers can then share early warnings with village committees, helping residents avoid risk. These cameras have delivered 98 real-time alerts so far and significantly reduced human-wildlife conflict.

Protecting tigers

As tiger populations increase, they can attract poachers looking to kill tigers and sell their parts and products in the global illegal wildlife trade. In anticipation of this, WWF-China has been supporting its government partners by establishing three community patrol teams in this area, each with four local rangers. In 2025, community patrol teams conducted 624 patrols, covered 6,905 miles, logged 12,323 patrol hours, removed 123 snares, and recorded 1,230 signs of wildlife.

A promising future

These five cubs are a living testament to years of conservation efforts. Seeing five cubs in this landscape is a huge win for conservation and shows that these forests provide food, space, and safety for one of the world’s rarest big cats. WWF-China continues to work closely with the government and community partners to strengthen conservation measures, improve habitat connectivity, and ensure that tiger recovery remains a national and global success story.

How you can help!

Thanks to supporters like you, WWF has made significant strides in returning tigers to their historic ranges. But our work is far from over! You can join us by supporting this project and sharing it with your family, friends, and colleagues. Together, we can make a lasting impact and help tiger populations come roaring back. Thank you!

Simon Rawles / WWF-UK

WWF-US / Stacy Wells

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Oct 30, 2025
Project C.A.T+WWF: Tigers reclaim historic range

By Jenna Bailey | Program Officer

Living Image / WWF

How wild tigers are reclaiming areas of their historic range

Across Asia, projects bring hope for the future of tigers

On July 29th—Global Tiger Day—tigers, and all of us who care about their future, had reasons to be hopeful. Across Asia, wild tigers are slowly returning to the areas they once roamed. Having lost 92% of their historic range, tigers now inhabit only a fraction of the territory they once called home. But thanks to the collaborative efforts between WWF, governments, communities, and other NGOs, tigers are making a comeback.

Let’s dive into a few of the regions in Asia where tigers are making a return:

India

The Terai Arc landscape in northern India is home to the Rajaji Tiger Reserve. This region is home to an incredible array of wildlife, including tigers. However, rapid urban expansion has placed growing pressure on the surrounding natural areas. Rajaji Tiger Reserve has been especially impacted, with a city, railway line, and highway slicing through its center and making it nearly impossible for tigers to move between the eastern and western parts of the reserve. To address this, translocation is being used to boost tiger populations in the western region. Since 2021, five tigers have been successfully relocated from a nearby reserve. WWF-India has supported these efforts and continues to monitor the movements of the translocated tigers. WWF is working to enhance functional wildlife corridors to improve connectivity between tigers across the reserve. With these efforts underway, there is growing home for the recovery of the tiger population in Rajaji.

Kazakhstan

In Kazakhstan, a landmark conservation initiative is underway to reintroduce wild tigers to a country where they have been extinct for more than 70 years. In 2024, two captive Amur tigers were translocated from a reserve in the Netherlands, to a semi-wild enclosure in Kazakhstan’s Ile-Balkhash Nature Reserve. The goal is for these tigers to reproduce, allowing future generations to be released into the wild. Kazakhstan plans to continue reintroducing wild tigers to the landscape to support genetic diversity and build a healthy, stable population. This ambitious program is led by the Government of Kazakhstan, with support from WWF and the United Nations Development Project.

Thailand

In 2022, a tiger footprint was discovered in northwest Thailand’s Mae Ping-Om Koi Forest Complex—a conservation area spanning more than 1,300 square-miles. For years, it was believed that tigers no longer roamed this region. The footprint was a remarkable find, and just months later, a camera trap confirmed the presence of a tiger in the same forest. It’s likely that the tiger traveled from a source tiger population located more than 60 miles south, where decades of conservation efforts have helped the population recover. Efforts are now underway to improve connectivity between these two regions, offering hope for a sustained tiger presence in Mae Ping-Om Koi.

How you can help!

Thanks to supporters like you, WWF has made significant strides in returning tigers to some of their historic ranges. But our work is far from over! You can join us by supporting this project and sharing it with your family, friends, and colleagues. Together, we can make a lasting impact and help tiger populations come roaring back. Thank you!

Siddhant Umariya / WWF-India

Central Asia and Ministry of Ecology

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Jul 2, 2025
Project C.A.T.+WWF: Tiger Cubs Spotted

By Jenna Bailey | Program Officer

Andy Rouse / naturepl.com / WWF

Exciting new camera trap footage shows the result of decades of conservation efforts

In a promising glimpse of progress, new camera trap footage from Thailand’s Dawna Tenasserim Landscape shows three playful tiger cubs trailing behind their mother, practicing their roars. This footage is the result of decades of wild tiger conservation efforts to reduce habitat loss, increase prey availability, and reduce poaching threats across Thailand.

These efforts are paying off. Thailand recently announced that its tiger population is increasing, making Thailand the first country in Southeast Asia to report a growing tiger population. Further increases in the nation’s wild tiger population could lead to tigers naturally dispersing to places they were once lost, not just in Thailand but possibly neighboring Laos, where wild tigers are extinct. And hopefully this success will inspire other countries in the region to continue investing in their tiger recovery efforts.

A critical turning point

This progress is especially critical as wild tigers today occupy just 8% of their historic range. In Thailand, this habitat loss is compounded by low prey populations across the country due to historic levels of poaching. As a result, conservation efforts are working to restore key prey species like the Sambar deer, which are essential to supporting a healthy and growing tiger population.

These efforts across Thailand also support a broader global mission to double wild tiger numbers. By 2010, the wild tiger population had dropped to an all-time low, plummeting from 100,000 to as few as 3,200. In response, WWF partnered with 13 tiger range countries to launch TX2, an ambitious and collaborative initiative to double the wild tiger population. Thanks to the dedicated conservation efforts of TX2, tiger numbers are slowly increasing, with the Global Tiger Forum estimating approximately 5,574 tigers in the wild today. However, the threats of poaching, habitat loss, and human-wildlife conflict continue to loom large.

While this footage offers a moment of optimism, continued political support, strong community partners, and continued conservation efforts are needed to ensure these cubs, and all wild tigers, can thrive.

How you can help!

Thanks to supporters like you, WWF has made significant strides in tiger monitoring, habitat protection, anti-poaching efforts, and range expansion. But our work is far from over! You can join us by supporting this project and sharing it with your family, friends, and colleagues. Together, we can make a lasting impact and demonstrate that change is possible. Thank you!

Dr Sanjay K Shukla / WWF-International

Richard Barrett / WWF-UK

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