These inbred, crossbred captive tigers can never be released into the wild. China is the top consumer Vietnam ranks second. This low-risk, high-value enterprise, masterminded by international crime syndicates, drives poaching of AsiaвЂ™s last 5,000 wild tigers. These farm-raised cats feed demand for their skins, bones, claws, teeth and meat.

Thousands of captive tigers are bred in China, Thailand, Laos and Vietnam. вЂњBut drugs are definitely the big money spinner and gambling is a cover for it all,вЂќ Ammann says. Karl Ammann, a Swiss counter-trafficking conservationist who visited the site in 2019, said вЂњItвЂ™s not just a Special Economic Zone,В but a вЂSpecial Crime ZoneвЂ™ where anything goes.вЂќ Laos has been a wildlife smuggling hotspot for decades, abetted by high-level government officials. Recent news of massive meth busts and women forced into prostitution shows that these activities continue. government: trafficking in narcotics, humans and endangered species. The Hong Kong-based Kings Romans Group is run by notorious Chinese expat mobster Zhao Wei, who, in 2018, was accused of masterminding an international criminal organisation by the U.S. Image courtesy of the Environmental Investigation Agency. Now there are about 70.Дrone footage obtained by the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) reveals a bear and tiger farm in Laos with at least 70 tigers, run by a known transnational organised crime group. When the EIA began its probe in 2014, this new venture had six tigers. And a nascent tiger-farming industry allegedly supplied these establishments with tiger parts. The EIA called the complex an upscale, lawless playground вЂњcatering to the desires of visiting Chinese gamblers and tourists.вЂќ Undercover investigators discovered restaurants serving rare and exotic wildlife. The EIAвЂ™s 2015 report documented rampant wildlife trafficking within LaosвЂ™s tax-free Golden Triangle Special Economic Zone (GTSEZ), home to the Kings Romans Casino and an adjoining Chinatown district. вЂњThereвЂ™s no conservation or educational value and not open to the public.вЂќ вЂњThis is no zoo,вЂќ says Debbie Banks, the EIAвЂ™s campaign leader for tigers and wildlife crime. The illicit trade also violates LaosвЂ™s commitment to convert tiger farms to zoos and stop breeding. nonprofitвЂ™s 2015 вЂњSin CityвЂќ exposГ©.ДЇarming tigers for their parts, like pigs and chickens, violates an international treaty, though it continues in Laos, China, Vietnam and Thailand. The video reveals that tiger numbers there have doubled since the U.K. Located close to a casino complex on the banks of the Mekong River in Laos, this is a newly built, expanded commercial captive-breeding facility. Tigers and bears can be seen pacing inside prison-like cages made of cement and corrugated steel in a new, covert drone footage obtained by the Environmental Investigation Agency ( EIA).

The illegal tiger-farming business is thriving in parts of Asia.

But CITES has done little to enforce it, which could be done through sanctions, say critics. Evidence shows that this decision is being disregarded by some Asian nations, including China, Laos, Vietnam and Thailand.

Under a 2007 CITES decision, tigers should be bred only for conservation purposes.

In the wild, some populations are increasing, some stable, and others shrinking: Bengal tigers in India are faring best, while Malayan tigers hover on extinctionвЂ™s edge.

With the worldвЂ™s second Global Tiger Summit and important international meetings on biodiversity and endangered species looming, itвЂ™s a crucial year for tigers.

As the world celebrates the Year of the Tiger in 2022, humans continue to threaten the catвЂ™s long-term survival in the wild by killing, buying and selling tigers and their prey, and encroaching into their last shreds of habitat.

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