THE wildlife trade monitoring network TRAFFIC issued a wake-up call to the Indonesian authorities this week: stop the illegal trade in Sumatran tiger body parts or the species will be hunted to extinction.
TRAFFIC claims to have found tiger body parts on sale in 10 per cent of Sumatran shops surveyed in 2006. It estimates that at least 23 tigers were killed that year to supply the trade. That’s down from 52 kills per year in 1999 and 2000, but TRAFFIC fears the decline is the result of the tiger’s increased scarcity, not improved law enforcement.
“Tiger body parts on were found on sale in…
