Indonesia has failed to stop poaching of endangered Sumatran tigers, with body parts of the big cats for sale at retail outlets on the island they call home, a wildlife group warned Wednesday.
Despite a national law against trade in tiger parts, a survey across 28 towns on Sumatra in 2006 found tiger teeth, claws, skin, whiskers and bones openly for sale, wildlife monitoring group TRAFFIC said in a new report.
The survey estimated that at least 23 tigers were killed to supply the products seen in 10 percent of 326 retail outlets, which included goldsmiths, souvenir and traditional Chinese medicine shops, the British-based group said.
That number was lower than an estimate of 52 tigers killed per year in 1999-2000, Julia Ng, the report's lead author, said in a statement on the report, but added that this was not a positive development.
"Sadly, the decline in availability appears to be due to the dwindling number of tigers left in the wild," she said.
Authorities in the northern Sumatran cities of Medan and Pacur Batu, two main hubs for tiger trading, appeared to have not taken action against illegal traders despite TRAFFIC supplying their details,
more info->AFP: Indonesia failing to halt tiger decline: conservationists
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