{"id":306748,"date":"2025-11-25T21:42:11","date_gmt":"2025-11-25T21:42:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/306748\/"},"modified":"2025-11-25T21:42:11","modified_gmt":"2025-11-25T21:42:11","slug":"beyond-skin-and-bones-a-25-year-analysis-of-tiger-seizures-from-2000-to-june-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/306748\/","title":{"rendered":"Beyond Skin and Bones: A 25-year analysis of tiger seizures from 2000 to June 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Felix | Pixabay<\/p>\n

A major new TRAFFIC analysis, Beyond Skin and Bones: A 25-year Analysis of Tiger\u202fSeizures reveals an uptick in seizures and sharp shift towards the trade in whole tigers, both dead and alive.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Covering global tiger seizure data from 2000 to June 2025, the report documents 2,551 seizures incidents involving equivalent of at least 3,808 tigers seized.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Most of these seizures over 25 years took place in the world\u2019s 13 Tiger Range Countries (TRCs), which also accounted for most of the tigers seized globally.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Despite decades of international commitments, enforcement efforts and conservation investment, 2023 marked one of the worst years on record with 139 tiger seizure incidents \u2013 second only to the peak of 141 seizures in 2019. Over 75% of these seizures occurred in TRCs.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This rise reflects improved enforcement efforts but also signals persistent and, in some areas, escalating criminal activity and a widespread demand for tigers and their parts\u201d<\/p>\n

Ramacandra Wong, co-author of the report\u00a0and Senior Wildlife Crime Analyst <\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Tigers and parts seized over the past years in (left) Malaysia and Thailand (right)\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Data from the most recent period shows a rise in\u202fwhole-animal seizures. Among countries making those seizures, 65% were in TRCs. This included countries without a viable wild population, signalling a captive supply into illegal trade\u00a0or unnoticed cross border trade. \u00a0<\/p>\n

The shift was largely seen in Viet Nam, Thailand, Indonesia and the Russian Federation \u2014 where whole tigers now made up more than 40% of confiscations \u2014 as well as non-TRCs where tigers are often kept as pets.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a twin attack on tigers. Wild strongholds are taking a big hit while captive tigers leak into the illegal trade chain. CITES must address this as a priority. We are well past the point where this can be ignored,\u201d<\/p>\n

Kanitha Krishnasamy, co-author of the report and Director for TRAFFIC in Southeast Asia<\/p>\n

The report warns that persistent illegal trade,\u202ffuelled by both wild poaching in some of the world\u2019s premier tiger habitats and the trafficking of tigers\u202ffrom captive sources,\u202fcontinues to undermine global recovery efforts, threatening the long-term survival of the species across its range.\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n

This report is a wake-up call. The surge in tiger trafficking and the alarming rise in whole-animal seizures show that criminal networks are adapting faster than our collective response. We must urgently scale up investment in tackling illegal trade of tigers from both captive and wild sources across the tiger range countries. Without this, decades of conservation gains risk being undone.\u201d <\/p>\n

Heather Sohl, Tiger Trade Lead, WWF Global Tiger Program\u00a0<\/p>\n

Authors said without immediate and coordinated action, global efforts risk falling short. The actions include\u202fintensifying law enforcement across the trade chain, closing captive loopholes, increasing transparency and data sharing,\u202fand reducing consumer demand.\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n

The report was released on the sidelines of the CITES Conference of the Parties in Uzbekistan, a key global forum where countries determine global rules for trade in endangered species.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

HIGHLIGHTS<\/p>\n

Shift in trafficked commodities:\u202fTiger parts in seizures went from 90% in the 2000s,\u202fdown\u202fto 60% from 2020\u202fonwards,\u202fwhile the prominence of whole tigers trafficked rose.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Trafficking hotspots persist:\u202fOver 1,600 locations recorded seizures with activity concentrated in Tiger Range Countries (77%).\u202f\u202fHotspots in the last five years were in India and Bangladesh\u2019s tiger reserves, Indonesia\u2019s Aceh, key Viet Nam\u2013Lao PDR border\u202fprovinces\u202fand some\u202fof Viet Nam\u2019s urban\u202fconsumption centres.\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n

Species\u202fconvergence:\u202fIn almost one-fifth of incidents, tigers were trafficked alongside other species\u2014most commonly leopards (34% of seizures), bears (26%)\u202fand pangolins (16%)\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Download the high-res infographic<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Felix | Pixabay A major new TRAFFIC analysis, Beyond Skin and Bones: A 25-year Analysis of Tiger\u202fSeizures reveals…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":306749,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[49,48,66,323],"class_list":{"0":"post-306748","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-science","11":"tag-wildlife"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306748","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=306748"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306748\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/306749"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=306748"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=306748"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=306748"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}