Thank you for the links. I didn't know that they were hunted for sport..that is disgusting. I read that Putin introduced tougher punishments for poaching tigers, but the punishments are only of monetary nature. I wished animal rights would become more important. When people are going to realize the damage they have done to the eco system it's going to be already to late. Thankfully, there are also people working to protect the tigers. Here is a very good interview with a tiger conservationist in India, which explains what is going on. ( do not watch if you are sensitive..it shows things made out of tigers)
http://video.nationalgeographic.com/...d-tigers-eorg/

I don't know if you have watched the "fatal attractions" series on the discovery channel but there was one episode on a guy living in Arizona and his special friendship with a tiger. .
here is a part (Fatal Attractions: Living With a Bengal Tiger : Video : Animal Planet)