Skin, miracle cures, amulets - what tigers are killed for

The number of tiger parts and products seized from poachers in the past 10 years shows that at least 1,069 tigers have been killed, the latest report of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and TRAFFIC program reveals. There are as few as 3,200 adult tigers left in the wild, mostly in India, Malaysia and Bangladesh, according to the Global Tiger Initiative.

According to WWF, the illegal trade is flourishing across Asia and in the past two years it has increased significantly.

Tigers’ bones are used to prepare “miraculous” medicines in China, their claws become amulets in Malaysia and their skins are valued in India and Nepal.

International researchers say that the criminal network of poachers, intermediaries and sellers spreads from Indonesia’s Sumatra Island through the border region of Myanmar and China to Russia.

India, the largest habitat of the predator, is also the biggest area of illegal trade.

The staging posts for the illegal goods are located in New Delhi and Mumbai, while poacher activity is highest near the border between India and Nepal.

Goods made from tigers.

WWF believes that poaching and illegal trade of tiger goods must be tackled on an international level.

A program for saving tigers aims to increase the global tiger population to 7,000 by 2022.

The current trend looks threatening: just 100 years ago the tiger population was estimated at 100,000.

In India, which has the biggest tiger population, their number decreased from 3,500 to 1,400 in 1995-2005. In some regions – the South Caucasus, Central Asia, Bali and Java – tigers are extinct.