Most of us who read about the wild cat species and conservation understand that there has been a dramatic drop in numbers across the board. Here is an infographic showing the drop in population numbers of the lion, tiger, cheetah and leopard over the past 50 years with some additional information.
The the most important thing to note is (1) even the best experts sometimes don't know population numbers of wild cat species and when they do know (an estimate) the data is about 10 years old. Conservation is in a pretty poor state in my view and (2) there are some wonderful individual conservationists and groups concerned with conservation but the leaders of countries and the politicians are not truly committed to wildlife conservation and in this instance the conservation of the wild cat species.
That is why there's been a consistent decline over the past 50 years. The decline has been dramatic and shocking. It will continue for most of the species until the only individuals remaining on the planet will be those behind bars in zoos. Shame for the generations of kids to be born in the future.
The future of the wild cats from the smallest namely the rusty-spotted cat to the largest namely the Siberian tiger is pretty dire actually. I am very pessimistic but I could be wrong. I just don't see a great future for these species including the great iconic species.
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