Police have arrested 15 gang members, who could face the death penalty. The alleged killings took place in Zhanjiang city in Guangdong province. At least one tiger was electrocuted.
It’s not clear how the tigers were killed in each instance, but it’s likely that they were drugged first before being put on display for those watching and then butchered. One male suspect, aged 61, apparently died while leaping from a building in a desperate attempt to escape a police raid on March 19, according to Ecns.com.
Police spokesman Long She said the gang were facing the death penalty if convicted of poaching and killing the rare big cats. He said: 'As far as we can work out they started operating in 2006 and we have confirmed there were more than 10 tiger deaths as a result of their activities. We suspect there may be more.
Under Chinese law the tiger is a grade one endangered species - and anyone convicted of poaching the animals faces the death penalty.'
Horrific footage that apparently shows the gang electrocuting a tiger in a cage in 2012 was seized by police and has since been uploaded to YouTube.
The tigers were killed simply as entertainment for officials and businessmen, and as a way of flaunting wealth, according to China Daily.
WWF said there there may only be 3,200 wild tigers left in the world – and just 50 in China. It said: ‘Tiger skins are still in demand as luxury items in some countries, and tiger parts coveted for their "medicinal" properties.
'The tigers’ forest habitat is vanishing too. Destruction of forests for timber, agriculture and road building has forced tigers into ever-smaller areas, where they’re even more vulnerable to poachers.
Poachers also hunt the tiger’s prey species, and tigers are forced to target domestic animals, bringing them into fatal conflict with local people.
Poachers also hunt the tiger’s prey species, and tigers are forced to target domestic animals, bringing them into fatal conflict with local people.
One scientist said that tigers will always be in danger if Chinese people continue to believe that their parts have health benefits.
‘Tigers are subjected to slaughter as long as Chinese have faith in the medical value of tiger products, such as their bones or male genitalia, which are actually very controversial in terms of their efficacy,’ Xie Yan, an expert from the Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, told the Global Times.
‘Tigers are first class national protected animals in our country and it's illegal to raise tigers without a certificate. But many will raise them for profit and do underground business.
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