Posted on 01 July
2010
Hanoi, Vietnam — Vietnam’s Environmental
Police have confiscated two frozen tigers
and a frozen panther in the central province
of Nghe An.
The animals, reportedly
along with five kgs of suspected tiger bones,
were confiscated from the home of a 53-year
old man in Dien Chau district early last
week. The suspect was placed under arrest.
The confiscation resulted
from a co-ordinated effort between enforcement
authorities, including the recently established
Environmental Police.
TRAFFIC, the wildlife
trade monitoring network, commended the
authorities for their diligence in enforcing
Vietnam’s wildlife laws. TRAFFIC is a joint
programme of WWF and the International Union
for Conservation of Nature.
“The Environmental Police
have demonstrated once again their dedication
to halting the illegal trade in protected
species such as tigers,” said Thomas Osborn,
Co-ordinator of TRAFFIC’s Greater Mekong
Programme.
Despite their protection
under Vietnamese and international law,
tigers and panthers continue to be illegally
hunted and traded across Vietnam and Southeast
Asia for their meat, as souvenirs, and for
their bones, used in traditional medicine
and to make tiger bone wine.
In March this year,
Lao Bao Border Guard Police seized a body
of a tiger (95 kgs) and a black panther
(27 kgs) being transported across the border
to be sold in Vietnam. In October 2009,
Vietnam Environmental Police seized two
frozen tiger carcasses weighing a total
of 130kgs and arrested five suspects in
Hanoi.
As few as 30 wild tigers
are estimated to survive in Vietnam.
“If we hope to save
the country’s remaining tigers and other
threatened species, it will take ever increasing
vigilance from authorities and a strong
commitment by the government to support
and promote existing wildlife laws,” said
Osborn.
Tigers have become a
global icon for species on the brink of
extinction, especially during the current
Chinese Year of the Tiger. There are as
few as 3,200 tigers left in the wild around
the world.
WWF and TRAFFIC are
working this year to secure political commitments
that will double the number of tigers by
the next Year of the Tiger in 2022.
