There’s a growing threat to the world’s 3,200 wild Tigers out there, and it appears to originate from Man’s Best Friend:  Distemper.

Tigers are getting forced into smaller habitats thanks to the encroachment of humans deeper and deeper into the wild.  People are bringing their dogs with them, and the dogs sometimes have Canine Distemper Virus (CDV). 

The conservation organization Wildlife Vets International says CDV has infected 15 percent of the 400-some Siberian tigers in the Russian Far East, and has killed at least three. 

Captive Tigers caught the deadly virus in California in the 1980s. Conservationists first noticed the problem in the wild in 2003 when a Tiger wandered into a Siberian village.  CDV makes Tigers get over their aversion to humans. 

“This tiger just walked into a town and sat down. She was absolutely beautiful; a healthy-looking young tigress,” said John Goodrich of the wild cat conservation group Panthera.  But Goodrich said she seemed to be ‘out of it’, adding, “The lights were on, but no one was home.”

They caught and cared for the Tigress, but she died 6 weeks later.  Now, similarly strange behavior is being observed in Tigers in Sumatra, showing the problem threatens Tiger populations throughout Asia.  These are areas where dogs are not routinely vaccinated to protect them against CDV.

Tigers that survive are brain-damaged and lose their instincts to avoid people, leaving them at greater risk of getting killed and skinned by poachers.

Wildlife Vets International plans to fight CDV at the source by encouraging people Indonesia to vaccinate their dogs against the deadly viruses.