From seizure to sentence: Weak prosecution leaves tigers vulnerable to trafficking in Southeast Asia: Report

When tiger poachers and traffickers are captured in Southeast Asian countries where the endangered cats once thrived, they frequently avoid punishment: Fewer than half of arrests and seizure operations in the region's tiger range nations result in penalties or convictions, according to a recent report by the GuArdean Centre for Conservation Research, wildlife trade watchdog TRAFFIC, and WWF International.

This lack of consequences weakens the deterrent effect against an illicit industry that is pushing tigers toward extinction, experts argue. The black market trade in tiger body parts, including skin, bones, and teeth, is a highly profitable enterprise; most of these illegal items end up in China, the primary consumer of the endangered species.

Researchers evaluated publicly available records of 259 tiger-related seizures in Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Cambodia, Myanmar, and Laos between 2019 and 2024 — representing just a fraction of the overall trade, as only those cases intercepted and reported were considered. Heather Sohl, WWF's tiger trade lead and co-author of the report, emphasized that this limited scope of enforcement could have a "massive impact" on wild tiger populations.

In response to their findings, the authors are advocating for a series of steps to bolster sentencing as a means to combat the international criminal networks orchestrating tiger trade and other wildlife crimes in the region.