Tigers in peril across Asia
Source: Agencies |
January 27, 2010, Wednesday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
TIGERS in the Greater Mekong region are facing extinction, their numbers down more than 70 percent in slightly more than a decade due to poachers and habitat destruction, conservationists say.
A new report by wildlife group World Wildlife Fund (WWF) says tiger populations in the region that includes Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam have fallen to 350 from about 1,200 in 1998.
Globally, tiger populations are at an all-time low of 3,200, down from an estimated 5,000 to 7,000 some 12 years ago.
"Decisive action must be taken to ensure this iconic sub-species does not reach the point of no return," said Nick Cox, coordinator of the WWF Greater Mekong Tiger Program.
"There is a potential for tiger populations in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia to become locally extinct by the next Year of the Tiger in 2022, if we don't step up actions to protect them," he added.
Tigers are being killed illegally to satisfy increasing demand for their body parts, which are used in traditional Chinese medicine. Destruction of their forest homes has also fueled the decline, said the report, released ahead of the Chinese lunar Year of the Tiger which begins next month. Asian countries are a hot spot for the illegal wildlife trade, which the international police organization Interpol estimates may be worth more than US$20 billion a year.
Tiger skins sell as rugs on the black market, and can fetch up to US$20,000 in countries like China. The WWF said Indochinese tigers were once found across the Greater Mekong region, but today there are no more than 30 tigers in each of Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam.
Ministers are due to meet in Thailand today to discuss tiger conservation.
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