Decreased motivation for farming tigers and insights into tiger farming practice in Nghe An Province, Vietnam

Demand for tiger parts has contributed to a global decline in tiger populations. Tigers are extirpated entirely from Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam, and are severely threatened in extant populations in Southeast Asia. Across the region, tiger farms have been established with the main intent of supplying tigers for consumer demand, e.g. tiger bone glue for medicine. Tiger farms are known to operate within Vietnam and within Nghe An province, the focal area of this study. We interviewed 16 former tiger farmers to understand how they obtained their tigers, how they farmed tigers, why they farmed tigers, why they stopped farming tigers, and their beliefs around environmental policy, tiger conservation, and tiger reintroduction. Tiger cubs were trafficked in from Laos and raised by the tiger farmers to adulthood, at which point the tigers were sold to other individuals who slaughtered the tigers for their parts. We found that most of our sample were aware that tigers are in decline globally, and extinct from Vietnam. Farming was perceived as “easy” and lucrative; however, our sample were no longer raising tigers due to fears of fines and jail time. Our sample were ambivalent about the current environmental policy around farming, but were supportive of reintroduction and stated their desire to see tigers in Vietnam again. While tiger farms do still operate in Nghe An, we find it heartening that proactive enforcement appears to be discouraging individuals to continue farming. Our study illustrates the importance of government commitment to policy in driving conservation impact.