Thanks for the link
Now WHY would you accept as fact the first result that pops up in an internet search and look no further??????
Because The Conversation is an independent source of news analysis and informed comment written by academic experts, working with professional journalists who help share their knowledge with the world. And its founding partners are universities from over here. I doubt they would have any other agenda other than trying to tell the truth.
The author is a PhD student from the University of California and I don't she is using "dodgy" numbers.
From the link in the article the 10K number looks like it came from the book "Blood of the Tiger" by J.A. Mills
Btw one of your links also states it is missing info.
"The dataset addresses only the number of federally regulated big cats: it cannot be used to determine the number of privately owned big cats within the United States, nor the total number of all big cats in all situations within the country."