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Tiger Trafficking Crisis Worsens: Nine Tigers Seized Monthly, Threatening Iconic Species
GLOBAL – A new report released Tuesday paints a grim picture for one of the planet’s most iconic species: tigers. Authorities worldwide have been seizing an average of nine tigers every month over the past five years, a stark indicator of a worsening trafficking crisis that imperils their very survival.
The research, conducted by the wildlife trade monitoring network TRAFFIC, reveals that sophisticated criminal networks are evolving at a faster pace than current conservation efforts can counter. Once numbering approximately 100,000 a century ago, the global wild tiger population has now plummeted to an estimated 3,700-5,500.
Despite five decades of international protection, TRAFFIC’s findings show an acceleration in tiger trafficking, with a disturbing trend toward targeting whole animals, whether living or deceased. Experts suggest this shift may be linked to captive-breeding operations, but could also indicate tigers being seized soon after poaching or before dismemberment for their parts. Additionally, a rise in exotic pet ownership or demand for taxidermy could be contributing factors.
The report, the sixth installment in TRAFFIC’s “Skin and Bones” series focusing on the illegal tiger trade, highlights critical trends. Between 2000 and mid-2025, law enforcement agencies globally recorded 2,551 seizures involving a minimum of 3,808 tigers.
The period from 2020 to June 2025 alone saw 765 seizures, confiscating the equivalent of 573 tigers-roughly nine per month over 66 months. The peak year for seizures was 2019, with 141 incidents, followed by 139 in 2023.
The majority of these seizures occurred within the 13 countries home to wild tiger populations. India, with the largest wild tiger population, led in incidents, followed by China, Indonesia, and Vietnam.
Notably, countries without wild tiger populations, such as Mexico, the U.S., and the United Kingdom, also reported a significant number of incidents. While enforcement has improved, so too has the illicit trade.
“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,” stated Ramacandra Wong, senior wildlife crime analyst and co-author of the report.
TRAFFIC’s latest analysis reveals a dramatic shift in the nature of seized products. In the 2000s, tiger parts constituted 90% of seized items, but since 2020, that proportion has dropped to 60%.
This decline has been offset by a surge in seizures of whole animal carcasses and live tigers. More than 40% of confiscations in countries like Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, and Russia now involve whole tigers.
The report identifies critical hotspots for intervention: tiger reserves in India and Bangladesh; Indonesia’s Aceh region; the Vietnam-Laos border; and Vietnam’s major consumption hubs, including Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.
Furthermore, the report documents a growing “species convergence,” with nearly one in five tiger trafficking incidents involving other threatened wildlife, most commonly leopards, bears, and pangolins.
Consumption patterns vary significantly by region. In Mexico and the United States, demand leans toward live tigers, often for exotic pet ownership.
Europe exhibits a stronger market for tiger derivatives used in certain traditional medicines and taxidermy for decorative purposes. Earlier this year, Spanish police apprehended two individuals suspected of online sales of exotic cats, including protected species like white tigers and pumas.
Across Asia, demand encompasses skins, bones, claws, and whole dead animals for fashion and traditional medicine.
According to WWF, tiger bones are “used in traditional medicines or boiled down to make tiger bone glue or steeped in wine, their skins are used as rugs or clothing, their teeth and claws are made into trinkets and amulets, their meat consumed, even their whiskers are highly prized in illegal markets.”
The report emphasizes that investigations should not conclude at the point of seizure. It stresses the crucial role of robust international cooperation and the necessity of disrupting organized crime networks along the illegal trade chain through intelligence-led, multi-agency enforcement.
Leigh Henry, director of wildlife conservation at the environmental charity WWF, told The Associated Press that the surge in whole-animal trafficking highlights the “prominent role of captive tiger breeding facilities in feeding and perpetuating the illegal trade.”
“Illegal trade remains the greatest immediate threat to wild tigers. If we don’t urgently scale up investments to combat tiger trafficking – at all points along the trade chain – we absolutely face the possibility of a world without wild tigers,” she warned.
WWF states that poachers frequently set snares in tiger habitats, inadvertently trapping “anything [that] could get caught including tigers, their prey or other wildlife. One thing is for sure whatever is trapped, unless rescued, will die a painful and often slow death.”
Heather Sohl of the WWF Global Tiger Program described Tuesday’s report as “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,” Sohl said in a statement. “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.”