Tigers under threat
13th February 2008
Tiger body parts are still openly on sale in Indonesia, according to a new report. This is despite tough new laws designed to protect the endangered Sumatran tiger.
Teeth, claws, skin pieces, whiskers and bones were on sale in 10% of the 326 shops surveyed by TRAFFIC Southeast Asia, which monitors the sale of body parts from animals.
TRAFFIC estimates that 23 tigers were killed to supply the products they saw.
Although there has been a drop in the number of products seen on sale, TRAFFIC says this isn’t because of reduced demand. “Sadly, the decline in availability appears to be due to the dwindling number of tigers left in the wild,” commented Julia Ng, Programme Officer with TRAFFIC Southeast Asia and lead author of the report The Tiger Trade Revisited in Sumatra, Indonesia, published today.
The Sumatran tiger is also under threat from habitat loss as forests are destroyed for pulp and to make way for palm oil production.
At the recent Climate Change conference in Bali, the Indonesian President launched a conservation strategy to protect the tiger.
However, TRAFFIC is concerned it could be too little, too late. Julia Ng commented: “The Sumatran tiger population is estimated to be fewer than 400 to 500 individuals. It doesn’t take a mathematician to work out that the Sumatran tiger will disappear like the Javan and Bali tigers if the poaching and trade continues.”