Wealthy Bangladeshi citizens seek tiger parts for medicinal, spiritual and ornamental purposes, including tiger bones, canines, meat, milk, skulls and skins
Lead researcher Nasir Uddin doing post mortem examination of a killed tiger. Photo Credit: Khairul Islam New research from Panthera, the global wild cat conservation organisation, and the Chinese Academy of Sciences has identified Bangladesh as a previously unrecognised and major hub in the illicit poaching and trafficking of endangered tigers, a statement released on International Tiger Day 2023, noted.
“Contrary to earlier findings, a growing class of Bangladeshi elite in country and abroad has been found to drive recent demand for tiger parts and deaths, poached from Bangladesh’s Sundarbans, Northeast India and northern Myanmar,” according to Panthera.
The study, published in Conservation Science and Practice, highlighted trade destinations outside of Bangladesh previously not on the radar of international law enforcement and conservationists.
Bangladesh was found to supply tiger parts to 15 countries, including to Bangladeshi expatriates living overseas. India, China and Malaysia lead the pack in demand, followed by developed G20 nations ranging from the United Kingdom and Germany to Australia and Japan.
The tidal channels of Bangladesh’s Sundarbans were infiltrated by 30 pirate groups from the early 2000s until 2018, operating extortion rackets, taxing resource harvesters and carrying out kidnappings.
At least seven pirate groups branched into tiger poaching and dominated the trade. As a result, the Sundarbans tiger population plummeted by more than 50 per cent, from 300-500 in 2009 to an estimated 114 in 2018.
The Bangladesh government’s 2016 counter-piracy campaign offered amnesty to pirate groups, targeted those refusing and within a few years, declared the region pirate-free. Still, 32 specialist tiger poaching syndicates and opportunistic poachers utilising poison, including Furadan, filled the void left by pirates.
Scientists identified four source sites from which tigers were poached, including the Sundarbans extending across India and Bangladesh, India’s Kaziranga-Garampani Parks, Myanmar’s Northern Forest Complex and India’s Namdapha-Royal Manas Parks.
Traders were found to often own logistics companies and, in some cases, hold licenses for legal wildlife trade through which illegally sourced parts are easily concealed.
The majority of Bangladesh’s illegal trade occurred across land borders with India and Myanmar. Influenced by regional political instability, and cultural and linguistic similarities between the countries, gangs trafficking tiger parts were also found to be smuggling narcotics.
Lead researcher and former Doctoral Fellow of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Dr. Nasir Uddin, analyzed tiger seizure records and interviewed 163 poachers, smugglers and traders involved in trafficking tigers through Bangladesh by land, sea and air from 2016-2021. Trade routes were identified, including source sites, processing and distribution centers, transit ports, unregulated border crossings and consumption centers.
To stem the current tiger trade, scientists are encouraging the Bangladesh government to adopt a problem-oriented approach through which counter-poaching interventions can be tailored to tackle specific players, trade routes and other issues, one by one.
Increasing trade detection by land, sea and sky; bribe reduction; and improved evaluation of intervention efficacy via convicted and active offender interviews are additional suggestions. Engagement with communities along Bangladesh’s border where tiger parts currently flow is key.
Research of elite Bangladeshis’ consumption habits and motivations would additionally aid the country’s counter-poaching campaign.
Wealthy Bangladeshi citizens seek tiger parts for medicinal, spiritual and ornamental purposes, including tiger bones, canines, meat, milk, skulls and skins, the latter of which can sell for up to $17,450 each.
In many cases, meat is consumed to increase physical power; canines and claws are kept as symbols of power and to ward off bad spirits; and skulls and skins are used as status symbols and gifts to employers to solicit promotions.
“Southeast Asia has been identified as ground zero for tiger poaching, but this study shows that tiger poaching still remains the most significant threat to the species. While not on par with tiger trade influence out of China and Vietnam, Bangladesh is a country on which international law enforcement and scientists must stay focused, particularly given its explosive economic and infrastructure growth facilitating illegal tiger trafficking,” Study co-author and Panthera Tiger Program Director, Abishek Harihar, stated.
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