Tiger poaching in India
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Tiger poaching in India is a serious threat to the survival of tigers in India.[1] About 3,000 wild tigers survive, down from 100,000 at the turn of the 20th century. This decline was largely due to the slaughter of tigers by colonial and Indian elites during the British Raj, which continued following India's independence.[2] Most of the 1,700 remaining specimens are India's Bengal tigers.[3] Project Tiger was initially hailed as a great success until it was discovered that the initial tiger count had been seriously flawed.[4]
Most tiger parts end up in China,[5]where a single skin can sell for Rs. 6.5 million.[6]
The conviction rate for poachers is approximately four percent.[7]
In India, poachers hunt tigers due to their high demand in the illegal wildlife market. The tiger's body parts remain significantly valuable as their skin, bones, claws, teeth, and organs are used for many things. In recent years, the trend of tiger poaching in India has been on the rise. India is home to the majority of the world's wild tiger population, estimated at 65%. With the accelerated movement in tiger poaching in india so rampant, there has been a notable cut in the native tiger population. One of the most infamous tiger poachers in india is a person named Sansar Chand. He was a notable wildlife trafficker/poacher and was based mainly in northern India near Dehli. He was involved in a massive illegal wildlife trade network. Tiger Poaching in india started way earlier than most people thought, starting during the British rule of India (1857-1947) with the elites usually being the ones who would hunt tigers, and eventually it became popular in the early 20th century. In the 1970s, the Indian government realized that the tiger population had significantly decreased, so the government passed many laws to revive the tiger population, such as Project Tiger, the Wildlife Protection Act in 1972, and especially the Wildlife Protection Act which helped save the native tiger population.The Indian government passes important conservation and anti-poaching measures to prevent the poaching of their native tiger species. Most tiger parts end up in China, where a single skin can sell for Rs. 6.5 million. The conviction rate for poachers is approximately four percent.
In India, poachers hunt tigers due to their high demand in the illegal wildlife market. The tiger's body parts remain significantly valuable as their skin, bones, claws, teeth, and organs are all used for several purposes. In the black market, tigers are in high demand with the prices increasing exponentially due to high demand. The bones are smuggled almost exclusively to China where they are used in tiger bone wine—a pricey traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) tonic thought to impart the tiger’s great strength and vigor. But almost every part of the tiger is valued in TCM. Most of the skins end up in China, too, used for high-end luxury décor [7]. The cats are being slaughtered across India and their entire range, mostly for their bones and their magnificent pelts[7] . Tiger bones are used for traditional medicine purposes, teeth and claws for jewelry, and whiskers are used in ritual and religious practices. Between 2000 and 2008, all the tigers in two of the premier tiger reserves Sariska and Panna were lost [8]. Poachers move to India due to their widespread population of different types of tigers especially the Bengal tiger.
Trends
In recent years, the trend of tiger poaching in India has been on the rise. India is home to the majority of the world's wild tiger population - around 65% of all tigers in the world. With the acceleration of tiger poaching in India, there has been a significant drop in the native tiger population. In the last two decades, the global wild tiger population has shrunk by half (Morgan et al., 2021). Because of the increased demand for body parts, they are highly vulnerable to poaching (Nowell, 2010; Stoner et al., 2016). The various enforcement agencies seized 2,359 tiger parts globally between 2000 and 2018 (Morgan et al., 2021; Wong & Krishnaswamy, 2019)[9].It has been so alarming that even uncertainty in the data among tiger poaching in india.A global wildlife trade monitoring network's report has voiced concern over India's tiger poaching data management mechanism and said there was "disparity" between occurrences of 'seizure of tigers and tiger parts' in the country and recording of such incidents on official record[10].However in recent times there has been an effort to contain this trend as Noting that India is the only tiger range country to have prioritised the management of data on tiger poaching and seizure, the report titled 'Reduced To Skin And Bones Re-Examined: Full Analysis', has lamented that there has been significant decline in the number of seizure of tigers and tiger parts being reported in India[10]. However we can see an rise of tiger death in many indian states such as Madhya Pradesh's tiger stronghold is under siege, poachers now exploit farm edges, corridors, and live wires. With 36 tiger deaths in 2025 and evidence of organised networks, experts warn the state must act fast to secure its buffers, or risk losing its crown.
Sansar Chand
One of the most infamous tiger poachers in india was Sansar Chand. He was a notable wildlife trafficker/poacher and was based mainly in north India near Dehli. He was involved in a massive illegal wildlife trade network. Sansar was mostly known for the killing and trading of tiger bones and skins,trafficking tiger to countries throughout asia and was big in selling tiger parts in the international black market. Diaries seized from Sansar Chand's family by the Ragestan Police in 2004 allegedly showed the transaction of 40 tiger skins and 400 leopord skins in a period of just 11 months from October 2003 to September 2004. During Interrogation by the CBI in 2006 Sansar Chand apparently admitted to selling 470 tiger skins and 2130 leopord skins to just 4 clients from Nepal and Tibet[11]. He was eventually arrested multiple times, but the biggest among the all happened in 2005. he was later convicted and received prison sentences for his crime. he later died from cancer in 2014.
Poacher Sansar Chand acknowledged selling 470 tiger skins and 2,130 leopard skins to four clients from Nepal and Tibet.[12] He was termed "the kingpin running the country’s biggest wildlife trade syndicate".[13] He stayed in the trade without arrest for 40 years. He ran his business from Delhi's Sadar Bazar. He was called "Veerappan of the North".[14]
He is blamed for wiping out the entire Sariska Tiger Reserve tiger population in 2005 [15]
In 1991, a group arrested in Sawai Madhopur in Rajasthan confessed that they had poached 15 to 18 tigers over two years for him. In January 2005, a raid at Chand's godown in Patel Nagar revealed two tiger skins, 28 leopard skins, 14 tiger canines, three kg of tiger claws, 10 tiger jaws and 60 kg of leopard and tiger paws. In 1988, police had seized 25,800 snake skins from him.[16] Chand's wife Rani and son Akash were also arrested for wildlife trafficking.[17] Chand was arrested in Patel Nagar area New Delhi. Delhi police arrested him after learning that he regularly bought Rajasthan Patrika, a newspaper..[citation needed]
History
Tiger Poaching in india started way earlier than most people though, it started during the british rule of india(1857-1947) with the elites usually being the ones who would hunt tigers, eventually it became popular in the early 20th century. eventually in the 1970s the indian government realizes that the tiger population has significantly decreased so the government passes many laws to revive the tiger population such as Project Tiger and the Wildlife Protection Act in 1972, and especially the Wildlife Protection Act helped save the native tiger population."In 1972, the year the Wild Life (Protection) Act was passed and nine tiger habitats were established, demand for tiger parts declined and interest in tiger protection increased. Tiger populations improved slightly throughout 1972 to 1987. Incidences of tiger crime were rare during this time, prompting the authors to call this era “the golden years for wild tigers in India”. Likelihood of wildlife crime increased in the late 1980s and 1990s due to demand for tiger bones in China. Following a major seizure of 298 kg of tiger bones in August 1993, enforcement efforts increased. The authors’ analysis reflects a high likelihood of wildlife crime detection between 1993 and 1997[18]. However from 1997-2004 there was a sudden rise in the poaching of tigers with groups like the ones under Sansar Chand taking advantage of the system.Wildlife crime detection rates declined in 1997. Organized crime was already underway by December 1999, when three tanned, folded, and signed tiger skins were seized in Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh[18]. However the amount of seizure of body parts of tiger were increasing.Demand for tiger skins as a display of wealth in Tibet in the early 2000s led to a massive seizure of 31 tiger skins, along with other animal hides, occurred in Sangsang in the Tibet Autonomous Region in 2003. unsurprisingly, the likelihood of wildlife crime detection in India was lowest between 2001 and 2003[18]. However still today the native tiger population is endangered and therfore there is still a strict consevation program by the indian government. India forms the largest tiger conservation unit in the world and poaching is at its peak even though there are stringent laws and strict enforcement[9].
