Save the Critically Endangered Indochinese Tiger

IUCN Headquarters

IUCN Conservation Centre, Rue Mauverney 28, 1196, Gland, Switzerland  mail@iucn.org  Phone:+41 22 9990000 Fax:+41 22 9990002

 

Asia Regional Office

63, Soi Prompong, Sukhumvit Soi 39, Wattana, 10110 Bangkok, Thailand  asia@iucn.org  Phone: +66 2 6624032  Fax: +66 2 6624387  Fax: +66 2 6624388

 

International Union for Conservation of Nature Headquarters, Asian Regional Office

The Indochinese tiger is a tiger subspecies found in Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam and southwestern China. This tiger is disappearing faster than any other tiger sub-species with at least one tiger being killed each week by poachers.

All existing populations are at extreme risk from habitat loss, prey depletion, inbreeding, hunting for trophies, poaching by farmers, and the growing demand for tiger bones in Asian medicine. According to some reports, almost three-quarters of the Indochinese tigers killed end up in Chinese pharmacies for Chinese Traditional Medicines.

In Myanmar, a designated Protected Tiger Area was clear-cut for sugar and tapioca plantations. Cambodia continues illegal logging in tiger habitat. Fewer than 30 tigers are believed to be left in Vietnam, and one has not been seen in China since 2007 when the last surviving individual was eaten.

I ask to you move the status of the Indonesian Tiger to “Critically Endangered” and make more strenuous efforts to stop poaching and habitat loss for these apex predators, which will also benefit other animals in the region.