Tigers in Europe
The United States' captive tigers have received significant publicity recently, but what is going on across the pond?
Tigers are kept in captivity, bred, and traded across Europe.
Although CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) has officially documented 698 captive tigers in Europe, there are likely closer to 1,600 tigers across the continent. [ 1 ]
Imports of Tigers (and Parts or Derivatives) to Europe Since 2010. These occurrences represent only the officially reported imports of tigers and tiger products or derivatives to Europe, not accounting for the illegal trade, which is - of course - difficult to trace and quantify. Data from the CITES Trade Database .
Official CITES recorded imports of tigers to any European country (2010-2021) categorized by the reported purpose of the import (left) and the reported source of the tiger specimen (right). Data from the CITES Trade Database (all instances of Panthera tigris imports to Europe from 2010 to 2021).
The illegal wildlife trade in Europe, including tigers and numerous other species, is estimated at a minimum value of €4.7 million as of 2019. [ 2 ] In addition to the trade of live tigers, tiger products have been sought after for their alleged medicinal benefits, but are now increasingly purchased as luxury goods. [ 3 ] There is growing evidence that this illegal trade is fueled by tigers bred in captive facilities, even those that meet legal regulations. [ 4 ]
Examples of posts on enimalia.com, a publicly-accessible website where animals (including "exotic mammals") are advertised for sale and interested buyers can register their interest.
Additionally, the declining popularity and social acceptability of the use of wild animals in circuses (as well as new restrictions on these practices in many European countries) has created a surplus of captive tigers in Europe which may also be entering the illegal trade. [ 4 ] Tigers and tiger cubs are advertised for sale online (see image to the left), sometimes on sites easily and publicly accessible, in countries where regulations are least restrictive. [ 5 ] When these tigers enter private ownership or large captivity operations, they may be kept in inadequate or inhumane conditions, often as a result of insufficient regulations and enforcement capacity. [ 1 ]
While all EU member states – which make up a little over half of the countries in Europe – are required to follow certain EU directives, regulations vary significantly within EU member states and across Europe as a whole and, as of 2020, there is no comprehensive overview of all European nations’ policies regarding tiger keeping, breeding, and trading. [ 4 ]
In April 2023, the EU released new guidance for member states on the trade of captive tigers and their parts or derivatives.
Estimates of largest captive tiger populations in Europe in 2018. [ 12 ]
Prompted by the illegal tiger trade’s growing threat to tiger conservation and the lack of consistent regulations across EU states, the EU created the guidance with the goal of “providing information to member states on the ways to ensure a full and effective implementation of the EU Wildlife Trade Regulations” as they relate to tigers. [ 6 ] The guidance is not legally binding, nor does it add to, replace, or amend any existing EU laws – it is solely meant to provide information to member states on best practices and expectations for their national policies. [ 6 ]
In essence, the guidance emphasizes the need to be discerning when granting permits or certificates for export or trade, which should only be issued when authorities are confident that the permit “will be used for purposes that are not detrimental to the conservation of the species”; these purposes may include conservation programs in zoos, rescue operations and transport to sanctuaries, or use in essential scientific and biomedical research. [ 6 ]
Click below to read the full guidance document.
While the guidance is not an official piece of legislation, the EU does have an existing policy framework and a number of management and enforcement authorities, including:
The EU Wildlife Trade Regulations, a set of policies - including EU Regulation 338/97 - on the protection of species of wild fauna and flora by regulating trade therein.
The EU Action Plan Against Wildlife Trafficking (first adopted in 2016, since updated), which aims to prevent wildlife trafficking and address its root causes; strengthen legal policy framework to combat trafficking; better enforce existing regulations and policies; and establish a stronger global network of source, consumer, and transit countries as a united force against trafficking. [ 2 ]
The European Association of Zoos and Aquaria (EAZA) is responsible for accrediting zoos across Europe, which are subject to guidelines and protocols for keeping and breeding animals, including tigers. [ 4 ] EAZA has a specific set of rules for tigers kept in zoos, which require that the location of birth, male parentage, offspring, transfers, and deaths of all tigers be recorded and available to all EAZA members and mandate that any tiger in an accredited zoo be part of the European Endangered Species Program (EEP), in which tigers must not be sold or leased and all tiger transferred must be approved by the EEP. [ 4 ]
Outside of the EU, an important authority for regulating the tiger trade internationally is CITES.
CITES is the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora. With one exception (Kosovo), all European nations are parties to the Convention, and the EU as a whole officially joined in 2015, although most member states had already joined. [ 7 ]
Tigers are listed in CITES Appendix I, meaning that international trade of wild tigers and their parts or derivatives is prohibited, with very limited exceptions. [ 6 ]
CITES Decision 14.69 relates specifically to tigers, stating that member nations with intensive tiger breeding operations “shall implement measures to restrict the captive population to a level supportive only to conserving wild tigers; tigers should not be bred for trade in their parts or derivatives.” [ 8 ]
Click here for a comprehensive overview of each European nation's relevant legislation, restrictions on tiger ownership, trade and import regulations, and enforcement bodies.
The number of tigers in different settings in each European country, as of 2020. Data from Four Paws. If no data was obtained, the country was represented by a blue "No Data" column and a value of 50 tigers.
Stories from Europe's Tigers...
Softi (left), Samson (center), and Kan (right) were three of the ten tigers discovered by Polish border control officers in the back of a truck coming from Italy, bound for Russia. They became emaciated, dehydrated, and stressed during the illegal journey and were rehabilitated in Polish zoos before five of the surviving nine were eventually transferred to a sanctuary in Spain. [ 9 ]
Suria, a Siberian tiger, was bred, born, and raised at a wildlife sanctuary in Senec, Slovakia (called the Oasis of the Siberian Tiger) where captive tigers are raised alongside German shepherds [ 10 ] . The two species reportedly get along well and only play-fight.
Images from the Oasis of the Siberian Tiger in Senec, Slovakia [ 10 ]
In March 2023, this three-month-old white tiger cub was discovered by a cleaner in a garbage bin outside the Attica Zoological Parks in Athens, Greece. The young tiger, malnourished and dangerously thin, is believed to have been part of the illegal wildlife trade. According to most recent reports, Attica zoo veterinarians were rehabilitating her until she can be transferred to a wildlife sanctuary. [ 11 ]
Images from L-Arka taʼ Noè, an animal park in Siġġiewi, Malta, where "the Tiger King of Malta," Anton Cutajar, privately owns 17 tigers, including some rare species. [ 11 ] Cutajar describes owning tigers as his "hobby" and sees the animals as his "family." [ 11 ] He does not sell the tigers, but does allow visitors to his park and has given tigers to zoos or animal sanctuaries in the past. [ 11 ]
References
- Holroyd, Matthew. (2020, April 22). Europe’s ‘Tiger Kings’: New report highlights scale of captive tigers in the EU. Euronews. https://www.euronews.com/2020/04/21/europe-s-tiger-kings-new-report-highlights-scale-of-captive-tigers-in-the-eu .
- European Commission. (2022, November 10). Biodiversity: Stronger measures against wildlife trafficking. https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/IP_22_6538 .
- United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. (2020). World Wildlife Crime Report: Trafficking in protected species. United Nations. https://www.unodc.org/documents/data-and-analysis/wildlife/2020/World_Wildlife_Report_2020_9July.pdf .
- Traffic & World Wildlife Fund. (2020). Falling Through the System: The Role of the European Union Captive Tiger Population in the Trade in Tigers. https://www.traffic.org/site/assets/files/13230/falling-through-the-system.pdf .
- Four Paws. (2020, March). Europe’s Second-Class Tigers. https://media.4-paws.org/4/1/e/b/41ebc3113a32239fa6ca2405f610c22fd86a4b23/Report_Europes-second-class-tigers_EN_FP-2020_1.pdf .
- Official Journal of the European Union. (2023, April 18). Guidance document on the export, re-export and intra-EU trade of captive-born and bred live tigers and their parts and derivatives. EUR-Lex. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A52023XC0418%2801%29 .
- Generation Climate Europe. (2021). Beyond Tiger King: Looking into the illegal tiger trade. https://gceurope.org/beyond-tiger-king-looking-into-the-illegal-tiger-trade/ .
- CITES. (2008, October 8). Notification to the Parties Concerning: Tiger Breeding Operations. https://cites.org/sites/default/files/notif/E059.pdf .
- Phys Org. (2019, November 29). Rescued tigers get Spanish safe haven. https://phys.org/news/2019-11-tigers-spanish-safe-haven.html .
- Boyle, Darren. (2015, November 24). German shepherds befriend Siberian tigers at a Slovakian wildlife sanctuary devoted to breeding the endangered big cats. The Daily Mail UK. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3331936/You-barking-mad-German-shepherds-befriend-Siberian-tigers-Slovakian-wildlife-sanctuary-devoted-breeding-endangered-big-cats.html .
- Cilia, Johnathan. (2020, April 4). Malta Has Its Own Tiger King, And He Lives In Siġġiewi. Lovin' Malta. https://lovinmalta.com/news/news-human-interest/malta-has-its-own-tiger-king-and-he-lives-in-siggiewi/ .
- Armstrong, Martin. (2021, November 17). Europe's Tiger Kings. Statista. https://www.statista.com/chart/21448/estimated-number-of-tigers-in-captivity-in-europe/ .
