Planned Release of Tigers Raises Ethical Questions

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The Caspian Tiger once roamed Central Asia near the Caspian Sea. Its habitat spanned 350,000 square miles across Iran, Turkey, China, and Kazakhstan. Caspian Tigers settled mainly along streams and rivers and surrounded themselves with shrubbery.  

Results from DNA tests have shown that Siberian Tigers are the closest living relatives of the Caspian Tigers—so close, indeed, that the two species are “almost taxonomically synonymous,” Discover magazine reported in November 2023. This means Siberian Tigers might well thrive in the areas where Caspian Tigers once lived. To make that happen, scientists have been setting up a suitable habitat for Siberian Tigers in Kazakhstan in hopes of releasing them starting in 2024.

In the effort to reclaim this extinct breed’s habitat, many questions arise. Is it ethical? Would this tiger be a threat to the human population of these areas, or vice versa?  If the Caspian Tiger could not survive before, largely due to hunting and habitat loss, how do we know it would survive now?

Such fascinating and necessary questions are relevant everywhere and should be just as widely discussed, but the dearth of science coverage in the corporate media makes the conversations all too limited.

Source: Sofia Quaglia, “Why Did the Caspian Tiger Go Extinct?” Discover, November 10, 2023.

Student Researcher: Ella Troxell (Frostburg State University)

Faculty Evaluator: Andy Duncan (Frostburg State University)

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The Caspian Tiger once roamed Central Asia near the Caspian Sea. Its habitat spanned 350,000 square miles across Iran, Turkey, China, and Kazakhstan. Caspian Tigers settled mainly along streams and rivers and surrounded themselves with shrubbery.  

Results from DNA tests have shown that Siberian Tigers are the closest living relatives of the Caspian Tigers—so close, indeed, that the two species are “almost taxonomically synonymous,” Discover magazine reported in November 2023. This means Siberian Tigers might well thrive in the areas where Caspian Tigers once lived. To make that happen, scientists have been setting up a suitable habitat for Siberian Tigers in Kazakhstan in hopes of releasing them starting in 2024.

In the effort to reclaim this extinct breed’s habitat, many questions arise. Is it ethical? Would this tiger be a threat to the human population of these areas, or vice versa?  If the Caspian Tiger could not survive before, largely due to hunting and habitat loss, how do we know it would survive now?

Such fascinating and necessary questions are relevant everywhere and should be just as widely discussed, but the dearth of science coverage in the corporate media makes the conversations all too limited.

Source: Sofia Quaglia, “Why Did the Caspian Tiger Go Extinct?” Discover, November 10, 2023.

Student Researcher: Ella Troxell (Frostburg State University)

Faculty Evaluator: Andy Duncan (Frostburg State University)