Carolina Tiger Rescue is a 501(c)3 nonprofit wildlife sanctuary whose mission is saving and protecting wild cats in captivity and in the wild.
Everyone asks us how they can help tigers in the wild. Here’s the easiest answer: be a cautious consumer when it comes to purchasing Valentine’s Day and holiday candy. Really! It’s that simple.
Palm oil can be found in about half of packaged food products, as well as in cosmetics, laundry detergents and more, but for the popularity of this particular ingredient, many people do not even know it exists. As a result of the expansion of this crop, around 300 football fields of native tiger habitat are chopped down every hour to make way for palm plantations. This loss of forest not only translates into enormous greenhouse gas emissions, but also the devastating loss of local biodiversity.
Palm oil development allows easy access for poachers into exposed habitats that have been cleared for plantations. It is estimated that there are less than 600 Sumatran tigers left in the wild as of 2024. In the last century, we’ve seen a 96% decline in wild tiger populations due to deforestation, habitat loss and poaching.
To put that into perspective, in the last century the wild tiger population has declined from 100,000 wild tigers to just 3,800 individuals today. Palm oil plantations are exploding and profits are high. But the cost of lives for orangutans and tigers are very high.
Change can be difficult, but as a consumber your dollar can greatly impact the world around you. We can show companies what we are willing to support and what we require from the brands we purchase from. Change is possible.