Tiger deaths linked to poaching has reached an all-time high in India, the World Wildlife Fund has said, urging tiger-range governments to strengthen anti-poaching efforts.
On Global Tiger Day, it said wire snaring is threatening wildlife across Asia, especially the 3,900 remaining wild tigers.
Easy to make with bicycle cable wires and quick to set up, wire snares are rapidly becoming the deadliest method of poaching in Asia.
Such methods are used with greater effectiveness to bolster the growing wildlife trading, which, at $20 billion, remains the fourth largest illegal trade after narcotics, human trafficking and counterfeit goods, WWF has said in a press statement.
In India, the reported poaching related to tiger deaths reached an all-time high in 2016, though the figures only represents a fraction of the actual mortality. Electrocution and poisoning are also recorded across tiger habitats. With wildlife traps and electrical wires deeply embedded or hidden inside debris, detecting the traps are often difficult for forest guards who manually patrol our forests.
In 2008, Traffic India distributed Deep Search Metal Detectors to tiger reserves across the country. They help detect traps/snares, wires and other metal devices buried up to seven feet underground or below the debris.
Local communities also play an integral role in the protection of biodiversity and ecosystems, especially since 45 million people live in forest-fringe areas in India and more than 300 million depend on forests for subsistence and livelihood.
“WWF-India has been working with communities on holistic approaches to conservation. Making them primary stakeholders in the protection of forests and its wildlife can go a long way in enhancing anti-poaching efforts of the country,” secretary general and CEO, WWF-India, Ravi Singh said.
