By KATE JACKSON
Published: 24 May 2010
IN A dingy market stall in southern Tibet, a trader empties out a sack full of bones.
These pitiful relics were once a magnificent tiger, roaming wild and free.
Now sold on the black market to be used in medicines and Tiger wine, these bones can fetch around £600 per kilo
It’s a sickening sight.
At the turn of the twentieth century, there were estimated to be over 100,000 tigers in the wild. Now that figure has dwindled to approximately 3,500.
Despite efforts to protect the species, the demand for tiger bones, teeth and hide means poaching still continues. This, together with the decimation of their habitats and loss of natural prey due to hunting, has put tigers on the endangered list.
Scottish Debbie Banks, 38, travels the world hunting out illegal traders who profit from the sale of tiger products.
As head of the tiger campaign at the London-based Environmental Investigations Agency, Debbie compiles information about these salesman and how the tigers are taken from their native land to the shops.
With seven years experience at EIA, Debbie admits she never fails to be saddened by the plight of the tiger.
She says: “In 2005, I went to the traditional horse festivals in Tibet with a colleague.
“We thought we might see half a dozen people wearing animal skins.
“But there were literally hundreds of people wearing tiger, leopard and otter skins, some with the animal heads on.
“It was quite chilling.
“I realised then that I had seen more dead tigers and leopards than I would ever see alive.
“It still saddens me. But what drives me on is knowing that something can be done to increase wild tiger populations. They can recover very well if they are given enough forest and prey species. We have seen the trend reversed in parts of India, Russia and the Far East.”
In a hard-hitting documentary, Inside The Tiger Trade, on Nat Geo Wild tonight (mon 24th) at 10pm (
