TigerRun was created to combine people’s love for running and their passion for protecting the environment. With the backdrop of the 2006 ING NYC Marathon, TigerRun’s founder, David Wellner, noticed that the marathon and many other sporting events around the world are frequently sponsored by corporations that use charismatic wildlife as figureheads or symbols in their advertising. In an attempt to brand themselves as powerful, courageous, fast, and graceful, companies associate their corporate culture and products with animals that embody these traits. The TigerTeam is bonded by the idea that if the tiger is our logo and symbol, and if we use it to inspire and motivate ourselves and others, then we ought to take action to protect the animal behind that symbol.

The only foreseeable hope to save animals like the tiger is to fund ongoing scientific research, law enforcement, education, and land acquisition (in order to conserve their habitats) in the countries in which tigers live. When created in 2006, TR forged a strategic partnership with the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and chose to re-direct 100% of it’s donations to the WCS’ Tigers Forever Initiative. Today, Tigers Forever is part of the Panthera Foundation, which saves in situ populations of the world’s 36 species of wild cats and the landscapes they inhabit in all regions of the world. Tigers Forever is an ambitious plan to increase tiger numbers in the wild by a minimum of 50% at key WCS sites across Asia. TigerRun believes that this initiative, led by world renown scientist Dr. Alan Rabinowitz, is the single greatest hope for saving the wild tiger.