by Grace Chua
STING operations by wildlife activists here have caught three
individuals trying separately to sell pieces of tiger skin, a whole
tiger pelt, and a hedgehog.
It is not known yet whether the skins found by undercover
officers of the Animal Concerns Research and Education Society
(Acres) are real, but the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority of
Singapore (AVA) has seized the items and launched
investigations.
No one has been arrested yet.
The haul was the result of Acres' first operation to nab people
who advertise such illegal wares online. They follow an exercise
completed early this year, which homed in on people selling tiger
parts in shops. The authorities then clamped down on jewellery
shops selling ornaments allegedly made of tiger parts.
The sale of tiger parts is banned worldwide. All six tiger
species are highly endangered; by some statistics, just 3,200 are
left in the wild.
They are protected under Appendix I of the Convention on
International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora
(Cites), which 175 countries have ratified, including
Singapore.