Tigers in Danger
Adherents of traditional Chinese medicine buying at poachers skins, teeth and bones of animals. Because of this, in some Asian tigers are threatened with extermination.
Black market in Cambodia: on the earth the killed tigers - in parts. Separately the head, bones, skins. This Asian "pharmacy under the open sky", and the buyers are - the adherents of traditional Chinese medicine. Virtually every part of the body of a tiger Chinese ascribe healing properties - and because of this pay huge money to poachers. In Chinese medicine, used in almost all parts of the body of a tiger, although there is no scientific evidence that the whiskers, paws or tail of a predator can help with disease.
But the illegal trade flourishes. In the China hunting for a tiger is forbidden, and speculators buy up the killed tigers in the countries of Asia.
International trade in tigers is officially banned since 1975, but business poachers, however, is thriving. If 100 years ago in Asia there were about 40 000 tigers, but now poaching and massive deforestation has led to that the population had fallen to 3500 - 5000 tigers. The Bali tiger, Caspian tiger, the Javan tiger - these types of tigers have disappeared from the face of the earth. Meanwhile, prices on the black market continues to grow.
The illegal trade is thriving not only in Cambodia. Police patrols are regularly confiscate illegal goods in India, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar. For example, in July 2009, the Vietnamese environmental police found in the trunk of a car 11 kilograms of tiger bones and frozen carcass of a cub. And although environmental patrols in Vietnam and Thailand are working closely with conservation organizations, they still do not have enough funds to combat poachers.
In summer 2009, the World Wildlife Fund WWF presented the results of a study on the future of the tiger. It argues that many Asian countries not actively oppose poaching and illegal trade in animals.
Environmentalists warn: illegal hunting of tigers threaten the existence of absolutely all subspecies of these animals. The World Conservation Union IUCN plans in October this year to provide a global long-term program to save tigers.