In the Media 2006

Thai police seize Sumatran tiger body parts

News source: The Jakarta Post, 9 June 2006

BANGKOK (AP): The body parts of six endangered Sumatran tigers discovered at a warehouse near Thailand's main international airport were likely destined for China to be sold for traditionalChinese medicine, police said Thursday.

Police discovered tiger skulls, fangs and other body parts stored in fruit boxes when they raided a cargo warehouse near Bangkok airport late Wednesday, said Lt. Gen. Wuth Liptapanlop, chief of the police economic crime division.

The six tigers likely came from Indonesia or Malaysia, Wuth said, adding that police raided the warehouse on a tip that the parts had been transported there from the southern Thai city ofHat Yai, near the Malaysian border.

Tiger parts are a favored ingredient for Chinese traditional medicines, notably those that are believed to increase sexual potency, and Wuth said he believed the parts were destined for China.

Wuth said they were searching for the people who shipped the tigers to Bangkok, and who could face a maximum penalty of four years in jail or a fine of 40,000 baht (US$1,045) for possessing the body parts of protected animals.

Sumatran tigers, which now number less than 700, are under increasing threat from habitat destruction and trafficking syndicates that sell their bones and other body parts for traditional medicines, mostly in China and other Asian countries.

The World Wide Fund for Nature estimates the number of wild tigers in the world has fallen by 95 percent over the last century to between 5,000 and 7,000 because of poaching, habitat destruction, loss of prey and conflicts with humans. (**)