Siberian Tiger Population Drops

Once, the Suklaphanta Wildlife Reserve in Nepal held one of the biggest populations of Siberian Tigers in the world. Now, the Siberian Tiger is on the list of countless endangered species around the world, with as little as 20 tigers in the respective reserve in 2005 and up to one third or less in 2008. There is no doubt here, World Wildlife Fund suspects that poachers are to blame for the considerable drop in population.

"The loss of tigers in Suklaphanta is undoubtedly linked to the powerful global mafia that controls illegal wildlife trade. The evidence suggests that Nepal's endangered tigers are increasingly vulnerable to this despicable trade that has already emptied several Indian tiger reserves - clearly, this is symptomatic of the larger tiger crisis in the region. We need a stronger, more sustained response to this issue in order to protect the future of tigers in the wild," said Jon Miceler, managing director of WWF's Eastern Himalayas Program.

Since the Suklaphanta reserve is near a rather unmonitored border with India, poachers have relatively easy access in and out of the reserve where the tigers are killed and smuggled across the border, in the towns near the reserve. In May alone the WWF had confiscated two tiger skins and several kilograms of bones from the border town of Dhangadi, while another more recent raid succeeded in seizing tiger bones from a smuggler captured in the reserve.

"With only 4,000 tigers remaining in the wild, every tiger lost to poaching pushes this magnificent animal closer to extinction. Tigers cannot be saved in small forest fragments when faced with a threat like illegal wildlife trade - this is a global problem that needs the concerted effort of governments, grassroots organizations and all concerned individuals," said Sybille Klenzendorf, director of WWF's Species Conservation Program.

Siberian tigers are poached either for meat or for other parts of their bodies which in China and other countries in the Southeast Asia are used as symbols of wealth and in traditional medicine.