Bengal Tiger Poaching Statistics - Unnatural Tiger Deaths
(Below information provided by the WPSI)

Since January 1994, the Wildlife Protection Society of India (WPSI) has collected data on the following number of Bengal Tiger Poaching cases and Unnatural Tiger Deaths:

95 tigers known to have been killed in 1994
123 tigers killed in 1994
52 tigers killed in 1996
89 tigers killed in 1997
36 tigers killed in 1998

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These statistics, however, are fragmentary and represent only a fraction of the actual tiger poaching activity in India. As a result of the spate of seizures in 1994 and 1995, poachers and traders now also go to extraordinary lengths to conceal their illegal activities. Tiger skins are often destroyed so that the criminals can indulge in the more lucrative trade in tiger bones undetected. The Central and State Government do not collate information on poaching cases. The figures recorded are the result of reports received by WPSI from enforcement authorities, operations carried out by WPSI and other sources. WPSI also has records of a large number of tigers that were officially "found dead". Without verification of evidence of poaching or unnatural deaths, these cases have not been included. Recent Tiger Part Seizures and Poaching Incidents:

4 Jan 99
Two six-month-old tiger cubs were found dead in a private farm owned by a politician near the Suhelwa Wildlife Sanctuary in U.P. Three people have been arrested after confessing that they captured the cubs in a cave in the Sanctuary.

12 Feb 99
A tiger skeleton was seized and 3 wildlife traders and a driver arrested near Bhowali, District Naini Tal, U.P. (WPSI assisted in the seizure and is supporting the prosecution of this case).

15 Feb 99
A tiger skin was seized and 7 people arrested by the police in Pipriya, District Hoshangbad, in Madhya Pradesh.

24 Feb 99
Two tiger skins were seized by police and 5 people arrested near Bilaspur in Madhya Pradesh. (WPSI is assisting in the prosecution of this case).

1 Mar 99
A tiger skin and 5 pairs of tiger and leopard nails were seized in a joint operation by the police and forest department in Vickramasingapuram and Kalakkad, Tirunelveli District, Tamil Nadu. Ten people were arrested. The accused allegedly killed the tiger in the vicinity of the Kalakkad-Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve.

Seizure of tiger skins and bones in Madhya Pradesh

Note: For mixed tiger bone seizures, the number of dead tigers have been calculated by using an average of 12 kg of bones per tiger.

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