TRAFFIC, the wildlife trade monitoring network, works to ensure that trade in wild plants and animals is not a threat to the conservation of nature

Poaching has decimated the number of Tigers in Shuklaphanta Wildlife Reserve, Nepal, over the last five years Click photo to enlarge © A. Cambone / WWF-Canon   Cambridge, UK, 3 July 2008—Shuklaphanta, a Nepalese wildlife reserve that just five years ago boasted the highest density of Tigers in the world, today hosts perhaps just six animals, and the decrease is being blamed on poachers.

In 2004/05 Shuklaphanta in western Nepal held an estimated 27 tigers, at 17 animals per 100 km², the highest Tiger density in the world. But recent surveys using camera traps in 93 locations recorded just five individual Tigers between December 2007 and March 2008 and WWF estimates there could be just seven animals left in the reserve. Government estimates put the figure at between six and 14 animals.

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A selection of animal and plant products on sale as traditional medicines in Cambodia Click photo to enlarge © Mark Bezuijen   Ha Noi, Viet Nam, 1 July 2008—TRAFFIC today published the results of field studies carried out between 2005 and 2007 examining the use of traditional medicine systems in Cambodia and Viet Nam.

The reports seek to improve the understanding of the use of natural resources in traditional medicine and enhance the management and regulation of traditional medicine networks to promote conservation and sustainability.

The scale of traditional medicine use in Cambodia and Viet Nam is significant, and both plants and animals play a critical role. In Cambodia, over 800 types of plants (approximately 35% of the country’s native species) are currently used in Traditional Khmer Medicine while in Viet Nam more than 3900 species of flora and 400 species of fauna are used in traditional remedies.

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It is now or never for pangolins: the poaching simply has to stop. Click photo to enlarge © TRAFFIC  Singapore, 30 June 2008—The perilous situation facing pangolin populations in Asia comes under the spotlight this week during a meeting jointly organized by Wildlife Reserves Singapore (WRS) and TRAFFIC Southeast Asia.

Pangolins or scaly-anteaters are caught for consumption of their meat and for their scales, which are used in traditional medicines. However, excessive poaching means numbers in the wild are dwindling rapidly.

Pangolins are the most numerous mammals found in confiscated illegal wildlife cargoes throughout Southeast Asia, despite a complete ban on their trade.

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