The main
threats for the survival of this majestic animal are the depletion of their natural
habitat due to human development, commercial logging or agricultural use, conflicts with local communities for land and poaching to supply the market
demand of tiger products. The latter seems to be one of the main causes. This
post will only focus on the illegal trade of tiger parts.
Accurate estimates
of how much this illegal trade is worth (remember what CITES agreed:
import/export forbidden in all its forms) are non-existing, but there seems to
be a general agreement that the business is extremely profitable and it is
currently the most immediate threat to the survival of big cats.
According to
the Global
Financial Integrity, tiger bones are one of the most
lucrative products. Their report on Transnational Crime in the
Developing World of February 2011 contains a good summary of how
different estimates are. The report ranks wildlife trade as the 5th
biggest illicit market in the world (between $7 and $10 billion).
I could not
find estimates about what percentage of it accounts for the international
illegal trade of tiger parts. Using Traffic’s report “Reduced to Skin and Bones: An Analysis of Tiger Seizures from 11 Tiger
Range Countries (2000–2010)”and the
information provided by Havocscope
(Global Black Market information), I made a humble attempt to roughly calculate
how much a dead single tiger with its parts is worth in the market: $121000.
Considering
the economic importance of such an activity, I want to believe that there are
estimates more accurate than mine. Thus, if you happen to read this and have
more information, I will be happy to post it in the blog!
Supply
Where? It
is obvious that supply is concentrated in the few places on earth where the Panthera Tigris is to be found. According
to the data gathered by WWF,
tigers can be found in 13 countries in the world: Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia,
China, India, Indonesia (Sumatra), Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Russia,
Thailand and Viet Nam.
According to UNODC
(UN Office on Drugs and Crime), South East Asia is one of the major supply
regions for several of the largest illicit animal markets, and this includes
tiger parts.
Both EIA and
Traffic have provided for some time now with specific information about the
supply chain of this “profitable business”. Traffic’s report “The Big cat trade in Myanmar and
Thailand” from 2010 is particularly worth reading for its study
on border areas between countries in the region.
EIA’s
publications are also very helpful to identify particular individuals active in
the supply side coming from India, particularly “The tiger
skin trail”. To understand the big impact that Debbie Banks and Belinda
Wright have had to stop this illegal traffic, I definitely recommend watching
the documentary Tibet
Connection from the series Eco-crimes. Unfortunately I only managed to find
it in German.
The Wildlife Protection
Society of India (WPSI) follows closely the poaching activity in India and its
website holds statistics since 1994.
There seems
to exist a wide consensus in the fact that the majority of tiger parts and its
derivatives are meant for the international market, and that the areas/points
chosen to cross the border are those were the cost of transport is relatively
cheap (paying local taxes and bribing corrupted officials) and the risk of
being caught is low.
It is worth
mentioning the particular problem of the non-government controlled areas in
Myanmar which is reflected in Traffic’s report. These are self-governed areas,
situated strategically in the border with China, India and Thailand which count
with significant militia presence. To supplement funds in their operations
against the central government, these groups seem to have acknowledged the fact
that they hunt wildlife to whole sale or retail to international buyers.
Given the
trade volume, it seems that the current wild population of tigers is incapable
of covering demand. To cover “market
needs” a new activity appeared: tiger breeding. This point will be addressed in
a separate post.
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