Int'l Tiger Day: Bangladesh major hub for tiger poaching

One of the world's largest populations of Bengal tigers can be found in the enormous Sundarbans mangrove forest that borders Bangladesh and India.

Black marketeers buy their skin, bones and flesh as part of a broader illegal wildlife trade estimated to be worth $20 billion annually worldwide, reports AFP.

According to research from the big cat conservation organisation Panthera and the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Tiger parts from the Sundarbans have reportedly been exported to 15 nations, with India and China being the most frequent destinations.

"Bangladesh plays a much more significant role in the illicit tiger trade than we previously realized," study co-author Rob Pickles said in a statement.

Pirate groups operating in the Sundarbans found a lucrative trade in tiger poaching before a government crackdown starting in 2016.

According to official figures, at least 117 pirates were shot dead, and hundreds more were detained, while many others surrendered as part of a government amnesty.

But Panthera's research, published in the Conservation Science and Practice journal, said that the vacuum created by the crackdown had been filled by more than 30 specialist tiger poaching syndicates and opportunistic poachers.

Traders operated through their own logistics companies and sometimes concealed their activities through licenses for legal wildlife trade, the study added.

The research, based partly on interviews with those involved in the wildlife trade, also found that domestic consumption of tiger parts had increased since the crackdown, owing to Bangladesh's burgeoning economy.

Wealthy local buyers were purchasing medicines using tiger parts "as well as large ornamental items for display such as skulls and skins", the study said.

The findings were disputed by Bangladesh's official Sundarbans conservator Abu Naser Mohsin Hossain, who said the crackdown had brought the illicit trade to a standstill.

"We have taken measures to conserve the Bengal tiger population in the Sundarbans," he told AFP.

"No tiger has died from... tiger-human conflict in the past five years. Tiger sightings have increased."

Just 114 Bengal tigers live in Bangladesh's portion of the Sundarbans, according to an official census published in 2019 — up slightly since a record low four years prior.

An updated population count is due to be published next year.

Poaching is the number one threat to tigers globally. According to Panthera, China is the biggest overall driver of demand, largely for the use of their body parts in traditional medicine.