Nearly every part <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> tiger has a commercial value.Live tigers are sold as exotic pets. Traditional Asianmedicine uses tiger bone as an ingredient in a number<strong>of</strong> different concoctions. The skin is used to make‘magical’ amulets and novelties, and worn as part <strong>of</strong>traditional attire. The teeth and claws too becomeamulets, while <strong>the</strong> tiger penis is an ingredient inreportedly powerful aphrodisiacs and tonics.The tiger trade is primarily an export-orientedtrade for India. <strong>Tiger</strong> parts are not in demand inIndia, but have a large market abroad. The nature <strong>of</strong>international trade in tiger parts is essential tounderstand <strong>the</strong> business <strong>of</strong> tiger trade in India.There have been a few country-based or productbasedstudies conducted on tiger trade over <strong>the</strong>past two decades. But as <strong>the</strong>se studies havebeen conducted by individual non-governmental(domestic and international) organisations, <strong>the</strong>research has been incremental in nature and presentsonly <strong>the</strong> parts <strong>of</strong> a complete picture.The Chinese connectionIn <strong>the</strong> 1970s, tiger poaching was driven by demandfor <strong>the</strong> skin (used as fur in <strong>the</strong> US and Europeanmarkets) as well as for <strong>the</strong> bones (used in traditionalChinese medicine). But anti-fur campaigns wereeffective in reducing <strong>the</strong> demand for skins to someextent 1 .Yet <strong>the</strong> 1980s and early 1990s saw a new rush —this time, increased demand for Chinese medicinesand, <strong>the</strong>refore, tiger bones and claws. The trade wasdriven by economic growth in sou<strong>the</strong>ast and eastAsia, including Japan, which at one time was <strong>the</strong>biggest importer <strong>of</strong> Chinese ‘tiger’ medicines 2 .Between 1990 and 1992, over 71 tonnes <strong>of</strong> tigerderivatives/products were imported into Japan 3 .The o<strong>the</strong>r large post for trade has been HongKong, which works as a hub for movement <strong>of</strong> tigergoods to o<strong>the</strong>r parts <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> world, including Chinesemigrant communities in <strong>the</strong> US
■ JOINING THE DOTS TIGER TASK FORCE REPORTnow published its report, Far from a cure; <strong>the</strong> tigertrade revisited, in which it said that even thoughillegal trade continued, investment by China inenforcement was paying <strong>of</strong>f. 7 According to thisreport, its surveys in <strong>the</strong> late 1990s found that inChina and o<strong>the</strong>r non-range countries, <strong>the</strong> availability<strong>of</strong> tiger bone medicine had declined. Also, wholesaleprices reported for raw tiger bone in <strong>the</strong> black marketin China and South Korea were lower in <strong>the</strong> late1990s, suggesting a drop in demand.Yet it was unclear whe<strong>the</strong>r such restrictions onlyforced <strong>the</strong> market to go underground, makingdetection <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> trade more difficult. It was alsounclear whe<strong>the</strong>r <strong>the</strong>y may have raised <strong>the</strong> stakes and,<strong>the</strong>refore, prices <strong>of</strong> tiger parts and <strong>the</strong> costs <strong>of</strong>poaching. The earlier reports that had shown amarked rise in tiger trade had been done with <strong>the</strong> help<strong>of</strong> <strong>of</strong>ficial statistics, ‘open’ surveys and telephonicinterviews, but <strong>the</strong> reports in 2000 largely dependedupon market reviews and attempts to penetrate <strong>the</strong>illegal markets. Therefore, how comparative <strong>the</strong>sefigures were remains questionable. The shovelling <strong>of</strong><strong>the</strong> trade underground may have had o<strong>the</strong>r impactson <strong>the</strong> nature <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> trade, making it undetectable orskewing statistics. It was also found that somemanufacturers labelled <strong>the</strong>ir products as tigerproducts, though <strong>the</strong>y contained o<strong>the</strong>r animal partslike those <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> leopard’s.Just as conservationists cannot be certain howmuch <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> old processed medicines reallycontained tiger parts, so too is it uncertain whe<strong>the</strong>r<strong>the</strong> new processed medicines really do not. Thequestion — do manufacturers continue to use tigerbone and just change <strong>the</strong> label — was apparently <strong>the</strong>most sensitive one asked during interview surveyscarried out for this report: most informants inCanada, Singapore and Taiwan claimed to be unsure.Therefore, though <strong>the</strong>re is a consensus that <strong>the</strong>traffic in bones and o<strong>the</strong>r parts has gone downrelative to <strong>the</strong> mid-1980s, <strong>the</strong>re is no conclusivepro<strong>of</strong> or evidence to suggest that <strong>the</strong> demand is lowenough, or substituted well enough by o<strong>the</strong>ringredients, to not affect tiger populations in Indiaand o<strong>the</strong>r Asian range states.Part <strong>of</strong> this vagueness in understanding trade intiger parts also arises from <strong>the</strong> availability <strong>of</strong> faketiger products or derivatives in <strong>the</strong> market. While apart <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> trade in fakes has always existed, how itwas altered, with <strong>the</strong> tiger trade being bannedin many parts <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> world, remains unclear.Consequently, how it impacts <strong>the</strong> demand for tigerparts is also not clear.The underground tradeBy early 2000, trade in tiger products and <strong>the</strong>irderivatives was clearly and most definitely illegal.But it continued.In fact, <strong>the</strong>re is evidence that illegal trade in tigerskins has surged since 2000. Four separate reportsfrom international NGOs seem to suggest that <strong>the</strong>international action, geared to ban trade and tightenenforcement, is not bringing in <strong>the</strong> benefits that wereforeseen.By 1999, <strong>the</strong> EIA’s report State <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> <strong>Tiger</strong> hadalready warned that enforcement was not working inChina. Chinese researchers found tiger medicineswere freely available in pharmacies. In Japan as well,medicines were available over <strong>the</strong> counter as wellas online, advertising tiger products as <strong>the</strong>iringredients: this, when researchers found thatdetection was more and more difficult in thisunderground market. 8In October 2003, customs <strong>of</strong>ficers at a temporarycheckpoint in <strong>the</strong> Tibet Autonomous Region found,to <strong>the</strong>ir horror, a truck carrying a consignment <strong>of</strong> 31tiger skins, 581 leopard skins and 778 otter skins.These were being transported into <strong>the</strong> region. Thehaul, on <strong>the</strong> route to <strong>the</strong> Tibetan capital Lhasa,believed to be a major hub for this trade, was clearlycoming from India. Investigators found <strong>the</strong> Delhiedition <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> daily newspaper, The Times <strong>of</strong> India,stuck to <strong>the</strong> backs <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> skins. All three <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>arrested traders had spent some time in a town justacross <strong>the</strong> border from Ladakh.When <strong>the</strong> EIA sent its researchers to track down <strong>the</strong>link, it found shops selling garments made <strong>of</strong> tigerskins. “Traders in Lhasa have told <strong>the</strong> EIA that wholetiger skins are sold to wealthy Chinese visitors fromBeijing and Hong Kong for decorative use in <strong>the</strong>irhomes. Whole leopard skins are also sold out <strong>of</strong>backrooms in Lhasa to wealthy Chinese and Europeanclients.” 9 The report concluded that though <strong>the</strong> skintrade is poorly understood and <strong>the</strong> end markets arediffuse, it is clear that China is <strong>the</strong> primary destinationfor tiger and leopard skins from India.Then in 2004, ano<strong>the</strong>r report from WWF-TRAFFICon <strong>the</strong> Sumatran <strong>Tiger</strong> — a critically endangeredspecies — found that tiger part smuggling persisted,even though <strong>the</strong>re was an apparent curtailing in <strong>the</strong>markets for tiger bones used in traditional Asianmedicines. This report found that tiger parts weresold to Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, Japan, Malaysiaand China. The report acknowledged that this washappening “despite Sumatran <strong>Tiger</strong>s being fullyprotected by law, with tough provisions for jail time,steep fines, as well as increased effort in tigerconservation and building law enforcement and antipoachingcapacity”. However, its authors could onlysuggest that <strong>the</strong>re should be increased enforcementin Indonesia to check this illegal trade. 10Also, it is clear that <strong>the</strong> advanced and highlypoliced industrial countries have not been able tocontrol this illegal trade. The 2004 TRAFFIC-NorthAmerica report on medicine markets in San52 The way ahead
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