1. Social Justice 12 Animal Ambassadors Project Bethany Ferguson

2. – Lierre Keith

3. The tiger is one of the most threatened species on the planet. Currently, there are only between 1500 and 3500 individuals alive in the wild. This is mainly due to habitat loss or being hunted for their parts. In colonial India, tiger hunting was seen as a courageous and manly endeavor, and anyone who succeeded was considered a hero. Tiger hunting was primarily for sport or to obtain one pf the animals pelts, but in some villages hunting was encouraged for the sole purpose of killing the tiger if they had been attacking people or livestock.

4. Tigers have been kept in zoos, palaces, and circuses for centuries. In ancient Rome, they were also part of the notorious gladiator fights. While this is not the main cause of their endangerment, it did contribute greatly. Probably the largest cause of this species near-extinction was the belief in Asia that tiger’s various body parts held supernatural or medicinal powers. For example, it was believed that a person wearing a tiger claw would possess courage, and that a mixture of tiger brains and oil would treat acne. Today the use of tiger parts in medicines or pharmaceutical drugs is widely illegal, but the parts are a major black market product in Asia, and no efforts by governments or conservation groups has been able to stop it.

5. In the wild, tigers are usually very solitary and territorial, which is why they were hit so hard by habitat loss. Other species could have hundreds of individuals in 200 square miles of habitat, but this can be the size of a single tiger’s territory. Tigers were occasionally hunted after attacks on humans, but not often. Tigers that hunted humans as a food source were almost always old, sick, or otherwise unable to hunt their preferred prey. They would also attack for territorial reasons, for example if someone got between a tigress and her cubs.

6. While I think that advocating for animal rights is important, I'm not sure it falls under the category of social justice. The dictionary defines of justice as “ justice in terms of the distribution of wealth, opportunities, and privileges within a society,” and I cant see where animal rights would fall under that definition. That being said, I personally believe that social justice is as much about being a decent human being and fighting for other’s rights as it is about distribution of wealth, whether the rights belong to humans or animals.

7. I do think that we can draw parellels between the attitudes we hold towards certain animals and the attitude held towards certain groups of people. For example, many people see some animals, like killer whales, as dangerous based off of a handful of unfortunate events. Some people do the same to other groups of people, other races in particular, judging them based on the actions of people with whom they share only a skin tone.