Tiger body parts sold openly in Indonesia

Charles Clover, The Telegraph 13 Feb 08;

The Sumatran tiger, now estimated to number fewer than 500 individuals, is being sold openly as body parts in Indonesia, investigators have found.

A survey by the conservation monitoring organisation Traffic estimated that 23 tigers were killed to supply the tiger parts seen in 28 cities and towns across Sumatra.

Tiger body parts, including canine teeth, claws, skin pieces, whiskers and bones, were on sale in one in ten of the 326 retail outlets surveyed in 2006. These outlets included goldsmiths, souvenir and traditional Chinese medicine shops, and shops selling antique and precious stones.

Julia Ng, Programme Officer with Traffic Southeast Asia and lead author on The Tiger Trade Revisited in Sumatra, Indonesia, said:

"This is down from an estimate of 52 killed per year in 1999-2000. Sadly, the decline in availability appears to be due to the dwindling number of tigers left in the wild.

"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."

Medan, the capital of North Sumatra province, and Pancur Batu, a smaller town situated about 10 miles away, are the main hubs for the trade of tiger parts.

Despite the authorities being provided with details of traders involved, apart from awareness-raising activities, Traffic say it is not clear whether any serious enforcement action was taken.

The report recommends that efforts should be concentrated on arresting dealers and suppliers.

Dr Tonny Soehartono, Director for Biodiversity Conservation in the Ministry of Forestry of Republic of Indonesia, said: "We have to deal with the trade. Currently we are facing many other crucial problems which, unfortunately, are causing the decline of Sumatran Tiger populations.

"We have been struggling with the issues of land use changes, habitat fragmentation, human-tiger conflicts and poverty in Sumatra. Land use changes and habitat fragmentation are driving the tiger closer to humans and thus creating human-tiger conflicts."

Sumatra's remaining few tigers are also under threat from rampant deforestation by the pulp and paper and palm oil industries.

The tiger population in India was recently estimated to be as low as 1300 in a two-year census by conservationists.

The Wildlife Institute of India which conducted the census blamed poaching for traditional Chinese medicines, loss of habitat and prey.


Group: Tiger parts sold in Indonesia
Michael Casey, Associated Press Yahoo News 12 Feb 08;

The critically endangered Sumatran tiger will become extinct unless Indonesia takes swift action to clamp down on the illegal sale of the big cats' body parts across the Southeast Asian country, conservationists say.

TRAFFIC, a British-based international wildlife trade monitoring network, said it found tiger bones, claws, skins and whiskers being sold openly in eight cities on Indonesia's Sumatra island in 2006, despite tough laws banning such trade.

The group estimated that 23 tigers had been killed to supply the parts found for sale in souvenir, Chinese medicine and jewelry stores. Prices ranged from the equivalent of $14 for a tiger claw to about $52.50 per pound of tiger bones.

"Surveys continue to show that Sumatran tigers are being sold body part by body part into extinction," said a statement issued by Susan Lieberman, director of the species program for the conservation group WWF, which contributed to the report.

The Sumatran tiger, or Panthera tigris sumatrae, is the world's most critically endangered tiger subspecies — WWF estimates fewer than 400 remain in the wild in comparison to about 1,000 in the 1970s. The tigers' diminishing population is largely blamed on poaching and the destruction of their forest habitat for palm oil and wood pulp plantations.

"This is an enforcement crisis," Lieberman's statement said, adding that Indonesia needs to demonstrate it can cope with the crisis or ask for help from the international community.

Indonesia launched a 10-year plan to protect the Sumatran tiger in December last year. But conservationists complain that Indonesian commitments to preserving wildlife are rarely supported by enforcement measures.

"There is no effective enforcement on the ground," said Chris Shepherd, senior program officer for TRAFFIC, who has been tracking the Indonesian tiger trade for nearly 15 years. "It boils down to lack of resources. Wildlife crime isn't viewed as a high priority in Indonesia or anywhere in Southeast Asia."

Tonny Soehartono, the country's director for biodiversity conservation in the Ministry of Forestry, said efforts were being made to crack down on the illegal wildlife trade. He did not elaborate.

"I believe we have made significant progress," he said.

Indonesia failing to halt tiger decline: conservationists
Yahoo News 13 Feb 08;

Indonesia has failed to stop poaching of endangered Sumatran tigers, with body parts of the big cats for sale at retail outlets on the island they call home, a wildlife group warned Wednesday.

Despite a national law against trade in tiger parts, a survey across 28 towns on Sumatra in 2006 found tiger teeth, claws, skin, whiskers and bones openly for sale, wildlife monitoring group TRAFFIC said in a new report.

The survey estimated that at least 23 tigers were killed to supply the products seen in 10 percent of 326 retail outlets, which included goldsmiths, souvenir and traditional Chinese medicine shops, the British-based group said.

That number was lower than an estimate of 52 tigers killed per year in 1999-2000, Julia Ng, the report's lead author, said in a statement on the report, but added that this was not a positive development.

"Sadly, the decline in availability appears to be due to the dwindling number of tigers left in the wild," she said.

Authorities in the northern Sumatran cities of Medan and Pacur Batu, two main hubs for tiger trading, appeared to have not taken action against illegal traders despite TRAFFIC supplying their details, the group said.

"Successive surveys continue to show that Sumatran tigers are being sold body part by body part into extinction," said the director of WWF International's species programme, Susan Lieberman.

TRAFFIC is a joint programme of the WWF and the World Conservation Union.

"This is an enforcement crisis. If Indonesian authorities need enforcement help from the international community they should ask for it. If not, they should demonstrate they are taking enforcement seriously," Lieberman said.

The Sumatran tiger population is estimated at around 400 to 500. Poaching as well as deforestation to make way for pulp, paper and palm oil plantations are the main factors behind the animal's decline.

"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," TRAFFIC's Ng added.

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono launched a 10-year conservation strategy for the Sumatran tiger last December.

Links to more reports

Body part by body part, Sumatran Tigers are being sold into extinction
WWF website