Posted on 07 March 2013
- Bangkok, Thailand, 7th March 2013—Parts
of more than 1400 Tigers have been seized
across Asia in the past 13 years, according
to TRAFFIC’s latest analysis of confiscations,
which includes new data for 2010-2012.
Reduced to Skin and
Bones Revisited finds that parts of at least
1425 Tigers had been seized across all but
one of the 13 Tiger range countries between
2000 and 2012. For Cambodia alone, no seizures
were recorded at all during the period.
Although it is not yet
possible to show a definite trend, the analysis
provides clear evidence that illegal trade
in Tigers, their parts and products, persists
as a major conservation concern, says TRAFFIC.
A total of 654 seizures
of Tiger parts ranging from skin to bones,
to teeth, claws and skulls took place during
this period, an average of 110 Tigers killed
for trade per year or just over two per
week.
89% of seizures occur
outside protected areas, emphasizing the
importance of anti-trafficking actions to
disrupt trade chains and prevent incursions
into Tiger habitat. The benefits of such
analysis to enhance law enforcement efforts
to protect Tigers are obvious.
“If more robust information
was routinely collected, analysed and shared
between countries, real inroads could be
made into targeting the smuggling syndicates
behind Tiger trafficking,” said Natalia
Pervushina, Tiger Trade Programme Leader
for TRAFFIC and WWF.
The report, a joint
effort by TRAFFIC and the WWF Tigers Alive
Initiative, was launched today at the Convention
on International Trade in Endangered Species
of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) meeting
currently underway in Bangkok, Thailand.
Later this week governments will debate
efforts underway to protect Tigers and other
Asian big cats.
A significant finding
in the updated analysis was increased recording
of seizures involving live Tigers – 61 individuals
were seized in the three-year period since
the last full CITES meeting took place in
2010, representing 50% of overall numbers
(123) recorded since 2000. Thailand was
the most significant location for interdiction
of live Tiger trade (30 Tigers), followed
by Lao PDR (11) and Indonesia (9) and Viet
Nam (4).
“Given the low population
estimates for wild tigers in Thailand, Lao
PDR and Viet Nam, combined with the presence
of captive Tiger facilities within these
three countries, there are serious questions
as to the source of these live Tigers in
trade,” said Nick Cox, Species Programme
Manager for WWF-Greater Mekong.
Of the 13 Tiger range
countries (Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia,
China, India, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia,
Myanmar, Nepal, Russia, Thailand, Viet Nam),
only India had kept sufficiently detailed
seizure records to allow meaningful analysis
to identify the ‘hotspots’ where Tiger trade
was taking place.
Based on the information
from India, five ‘hotspot’ locations were
identified, including Delhi, while the other
four were close to protected areas in different
parts of the country (Uttar Pradesh, central
India, West Bengal (Sundarbans) and the
southern India landscape of the Western
Ghats).
“The quality of the
information from India allowed us to perform
a spatial analysis and pinpoint the key
locations where Tiger trade is taking place,”
said Sarah Stoner, TRAFFIC’s Tiger Trade
Data Specialist and author of the report.
“Countries should be made to keep to their
commitments under CITES to protect wild
Tigers by providing robust reporting on
the current situation.”
Under agreements made
at earlier CITES meetings, Tiger range countries
have to state what action they have taken
to protect Asian big cats. As of the start
of the CITES meeting currently underway
in Bangkok, only China, India and Thailand1
had submitted appropriate reports in compliance
with a CITES requirement to do so.2
WWF and TRAFFIC are
urging countries engaged in the Global Tiger
Recovery Program to develop a harmonized
process for reporting to the GTRP that will
also fulfil the requirements of CITES with
respect to Tigers.
