- The future of the wild tiger is under grave threat unless
China and India crack down on the growing trade in its skin, a lobby group
has warned.
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- The Environmental Investigation Agency said the smuggling
of tiger and leopard pelts was "spiralling out of control".
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- China's economic boom is fuelling the trade in big cats
killed in India and smuggled via Nepal and Tibet, it said.
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- The EIA said there were fewer than 5,000 wild tigers
left in the world - down from about 100,000 a century ago.
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- About half of them live in India.
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- The EIA report, entitled The Tiger Skin Trail, was released
in Bangkok, where the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species
(Cites) is currently holding its biennial meeting.
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- It said the rate at which big cat products were being
traded was greater than ever.
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- In October last year, Chinese officials intercepted a
record haul of 31 tiger skins that were being smuggled into China via Tibet.
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- The seizure, said to be worth $1.2m (£670,000),
also included the skins of 581 leopards and 778 otters.
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- Destruction of habitat
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- "Detailed field investigations reveal the existence
of well-organised syndicates trafficking tiger and leopard skins between
India, Nepal... and China," said the report.
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- "Tigers poached in India are ending up as luxury
decor in the homes of wealthy Chinese, and are often smuggled through Nepal."
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- It called for a better co-ordinated effort to stop the
trade, which is illegal under the Cites treaty signed by 166 nations.
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- But the group pointed out that poaching was not the only
threat to wild tigers.
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- Their decline in numbers, it said, could also be attributed
to the destruction of their natural habitat and a growing lack of prey
such as deer and cattle.
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- © BBC MMIV http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/3720980.stm
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