Not good.
Animal charity Born Free says that tigers could become extinct within a decade.
The organisation has launched an international plea to help save tigers, as their numbers deplete rapidly.
According to Born Free, 96 percent of the world’s tiger population has depleted in the last 100 years.
So what has caused this drop?
It seems that the main reason for the dwindling numbers is a dangerous combination of poaching and habitat destruction, both of which are man-made problems.
CEO of Born Free, Howard Jones said: “India is home to some of the greatest diversity of wildlife on Earth.”
“Within this extraordinary ecosystem, tigers need our intervention more than ever due to countless threats, including human-wildlife conflict.”
“That includes poaching for their body parts for traditional ‘medicine’, and habitat loss due to deforestation and chaotic or ill-considered rural development.
“It’s unimaginable to think of a world without tigers but unless we act now, the consequences could be dire.
“We urgently need support for our Living with Tigers initiative so we can encourage human-wildlife co-existence through education and by involving the local community in a number of unique initiatives to improve their livelihoods.”
Kishor Rithe, who is the founder of the SatpudaFoundation, a partner of the Living with Tigers network added:
“There are canals, roadways, railways, transmission lines and all sorts of projects that are proposed across the landscape.”
“I believe that every responsible agency should think about ecological security and have inbuilt mitigation plans with their project proposals.”
