John Goodrich, Chief Scientist and Senior Director of the Tiger Program at Panthera, joins Cheddar Reveals to debunk myths of big cat sanctuaries, and ways to strengthen tiger conservation efforts.

Cheddar Reveals

Debunking Myths of Big Cat Sanctuaries

Welcome back to cheddar reveals brought to you by curiosity stream unless you were born after 2020 or live under a rock. You've heard about the tiger king, a docuseries following a larger than life zoo operator for most, it's the only glimpse into the world of big cat breeding and it's supposed underworld through all the many, many distractions the show throws at viewers. The most important message that gets lost. The conservation of big cats. And joining us now is john Goodrich, chief scientist and senior director at the tiger program for panthera. Thanks so much for joining us. Let's begin by debunking some of the myths that many people think they know about big cat sanctuaries. How responsible and well run are most of these operations? Well, yeah, it depends, you know, if they're calling themselves a wildlife sanctuary or a big cat sanctuary, they should be accredited by the Global Federation of Animal sanctuaries and if they're calling themselves a jew by the Association for Zoos and aquariums and if they're accredited, they're probably pretty well run and conditions are probably pretty good for those cats, but if not, it's more likely the kind of petting zoo operation that we also on the, on the Tiger King that's making money off the cats through taking selfies with cubs and that sort of thing. Um, but perhaps most importantly, even legitimate sanctuaries have little to do with conservation of tigers in the wild Beyond some educational materials and, and maybe some small grants that being said. Where are the best places for big cats, tigers and other animals to be Yeah, they should be in their natural habitat in the wild. Um, and of course for tigers that's in Asia got it. And I mean there's also this prevailing argument with some situations where because it's an endangered species, you see it go into captivity in order to strengthen the conservation efforts. Um what do you suggest has to be done when it comes to tigers in particular or strengthen conservation efforts in the wild or ensues? Yeah. In the wild, in the wild. Yeah, sure. You know, conceptually, the recipe for tiger conservation is is pretty simple. It's not necessarily simple to implement, but tigers are really resilient species and if you give them ample space, ample habitat and prey and just leave them alone, they thrive. They do really well. Um, so this means that we need to protect their habitat, uh minimize their overlap with people, make sure that they have plenty of prey and most importantly protect them from poaching. And that's because poaching for the illegal wildlife trade is by far the greatest threat to tigers. There are Roughly 400,000 square miles of vacant tiger habitat out there and that habitat is vacant because poachers have killed all the tigers and all their prey. Um so we need to tackle the poaching problem at all levels from capturing poachers in the forest to breaking up organized trade rings, organized international trade grains, but at the same time we can't take our eye off of habitat because if we go through all the trouble of stopping poaching, but there's no place left for tigers to live. Obviously the recipe fails. So you need to be doing both at the same time. And can you tell us a little bit more about Panthers, Tigers forever program, you're working toward a goal to increase some tiger populations by 50% over the next decade. Yeah, So our program is all about recovering tiger numbers, increasing tiger numbers. And that's, that's really important. If your mindset is is just maintaining tiger numbers, just protecting them, you're always going to lose a little bit. But if you set a goal of, of gaining more tigers, gaining more tiger habitat, then maybe you won't reach your goal, but you're probably going to gain something right. Um, but we do this by choosing the best sites in the world for tiger conservation. And that means areas with prime tiger habitat that are large enough to hold a viable population of tigers. But because we're about recovering tigers, we looked for the sites that have those aspects, but where tiger numbers are depressed. Um, so there is some room for recovery. And then the first thing we do is we go and determine how many tigers there are and identify their critical threats. Since the top threat is pretty much always poaching. We start by working with governments to address the poaching problem through things like ranger patrols, training investigators and and prosecutors and judges and wildlife crime and then working with local communities to develop livelihood alternatives that help them make a living that doesn't depend on illegal or unsustainable use of natural resources. Um We also work with governments to create new protected areas of tiger habitat and establish and maintain habitat corridors that connect those protected areas. Um so we can maintain genetic viability of the tiger populations. So it looks like you're targeting this threat with systematic solutions moving forward for the general viewer right now, I think we all understand tigers are these really majestic um powerful creatures. Why is this really important when we think about biodiversity and our ecosystems? Yeah, tiger I everybody loves tigers, right? Um all around the world and that makes tigers and an incredible. We call them flagship species for conservation. It's much easier to sell conservation. Um If you're talking about tigers than it is if you're talking about rats for example. Um but another good reason is tigers need a lot of space. You know, these protected areas. I talked about to contain a viable population. We're talking about thousands of square miles of protected tiger habitat. And if you're protecting all that habitat, you are protecting nearly all of the biodiversity and that habitat and in that respect, we call tigers an umbrella species. All right, john Goodrich, chief scientist and senior director at tiger Program for panthera. Thank you so much for joining us