Conviction for tiger-related seizures in India

NAGPUR: At the rate of 104 a year, 1,977 tigers were killed for their body parts between 2000 and 2018 across 32 countries and global territories. Another 382 were seized live.This was revealed in a report released by TRAFFIC International in Cambridge (UK) on Tuesday. TRAFFIC is a leading NGO working globally on trade in wild animals and plants in biodiversity conservation and sustainable development.India, which accounts for 2,967 tigers or 75.09% of the estimated global population of 3,951, tallies the highest with 626 (26.5%) poached tigers in 463 seizure cases. Here, according to experts, there is no instance of live wildcats being seized. Thailand follows at No. 2 with 369 (15.6%) poached tigers from 49 cases. Indonesia is at No. 3 with 266 (11.3%) from 119 cases.The deaths occurred from a total of 1,142 seizure incidents, with 95.1% (or 1,086 incidents) occurring in 13 Asian tiger-range countries (TRCs) accounting for a minimum of 2,241 seizures. On an average, 60 seizures were recorded annually, accounting for almost 124 tigers seized each year.TRAFFIC’s report — ‘Skin And Bones Unresolved: An Analysis of Tiger Seizures from 2000-2018’ by Ramacandra Wong & Kanitha Krishnasamy is quite alarming. It is an analysis of tiger seizures in 19 years in TRCs and includes all the four cycles of tiger estimation exercise that was conducted from 2006-2018 in India.The current report is the fourth iteration of TRAFFIC’s analysis on the illegal trade in tigers. Previous analysis reviewed seizures from the 2000-2010, 2000-2012 and 2000-2015 periods. This analysis involved largely TRCs. Information gathered from outside TRCs has also been included this time to provide a more comprehensive picture of the illegal trade in tigers.“Beyond highlighting the statistics, the report provides insights into trends and the most current and urgent threats facing tigers. Nineteen years is a considerable time frame for data aggregation and, admittedly, numerous changes have occurred in the wildlife protection and management regimes, including tiger habitats in a number of TRCs,” the report stated.With the data set spanning almost two decades, various considerations emerge involving TRCs and issues concerning the protection of wild tigers as well as those arising from captive facilities involved in illegal tiger trade.The highest number of tigers seized in a single year took place in 2016 with 288 seized from 70 seizure incidents. The high number was contributed largely by a single seizure at Thailand’s Wat Pha Luang Ta Bua Tiger Temple involving 187 tigers (representing 65% of the tigers seized that year).Given that seizure data represents only a fraction of illegal trade, the loss and potential decline in wild tiger populations is suspected to be much greater than reported.“We have done these analyses four times now and year on year, it is more bad news for tigers. The poaching and illegal trade has been a decade-long unresolved problem that has piled the pressure on wild tiger strongholds,” said Krishnasamy, TRAFFIC’s director for Southeast Asia.“This pernicious trafficking evidenced by the continuously high number of seizures of skins and animals, both dead and alive, and bones is testament to the ongoing demand for tiger parts. The time for talking is over, words must be turned into action to prevent further tiger loss,” said Krishnasamy.TRAFFIC has called for continued intelligence-led law enforcement, leading to strong and deterrent convictions remains critical. Information sharing between countries, particularly in cross-border incidents, is absolutely pivotal in any effort to crack down on international smuggling operations. The analysis showed changes in the types of commodities seized over the years.The largest number of arrests involving these tiger-related seizures were in India — 38.4% — also, the country is among those with the fewest convictions. A total of 1,167 people were arrested across the world in connection with illicit trade in tigers and tiger parts between 2000-2018, according to TRAFFIC, a global NGO that monitors trade in wildlife parts and which has come out with a report on trafficking in tigers and tiger parts.Read this story in Marathi