Global tiger trafficking crisis deepens as 9 big cats seized each month

Authorities around the world have confiscated an average of nine tigers every month over the past five years, underscoring a rapidly worsening trafficking crisis that threatens one of the planet's most iconic animals, according to new research released Tuesday (25 November).

A report by the wildlife trade watchdog TRAFFIC says criminal networks involved in the tiger trade are evolving faster than global conservation efforts.

The global wild tiger population, once about 100,000 a century ago, has now fallen to an estimated 3,700–5,500.

Despite decades of international protection, TRAFFIC found that tiger trafficking is accelerating and is increasingly focused on whole animals, alive or dead.

Experts believe the trend may be tied to captive-breeding facilities, but also to tigers being seized shortly after poaching or before being processed for their parts. Rising demand for exotic pets and taxidermy may also be driving the shift.

The report — the sixth in TRAFFIC's Skin and Bones series — shows stark patterns. Between 2000 and mid-2025, global authorities recorded 2,551 seizures involving at least 3,808 tigers.

From 2020 to June 2025 alone, officials made 765 seizures, equal to 573 tigers — roughly nine each month. The worst year was 2019 with 141 seizures, followed by 139 in 2023.

Most cases were recorded in the 13 countries with wild tiger populations, led by India, China, Indonesia and Vietnam. But nations without tigers — including Mexico, the US and the UK — also reported significant numbers of incidents. Enforcement has improved, TRAFFIC noted, but so has the illegal 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," said Ramacandra Wong, a senior wildlife crime analyst and co-author of the report.

TRAFFIC's analysis also shows a major shift: while tiger parts made up 90% of seized items in the 2000s, that share has dropped to 60% since 2020, with a sharp increase in whole carcasses and live animals.

In countries such as Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia and Russia, more than 40% of seizures now involve whole tigers.

The report identifies key hotspots where enforcement should be strengthened: tiger reserves in India and Bangladesh, Indonesia's Aceh region, the Vietnam–Laos border, and Vietnam's major consumption centres, including Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.

Nearly one in five tiger trafficking cases also involved other threatened species, particularly leopards, bears and pangolins — a trend the report calls "species convergence."

Demand also varies by region: in Mexico and the US, the market leans toward live tigers as exotic pets; in Europe, toward derivatives used in traditional remedies and decorative taxidermy; across Asia, demand includes skins, bones, claws and whole carcasses.

The report urges that investigations go beyond seizures and calls for stronger international cooperation to dismantle criminal networks through intelligence-driven, multi-agency action.

Leigh Henry, wildlife conservation director at WWF, told AP that the rise in whole-animal trafficking shows the significant role captive-breeding facilities play in sustaining illegal trade.

"Illegal trade remains the greatest immediate threat to wild tigers," she said. "If we don't urgently scale up efforts to stop tiger trafficking at every point in the trade chain, we truly risk a future without wild tigers."