12 Of The Most Compelling Reasons To Hate Poachers

5They are also driving the magnificent tiger to extinction

Tigers in India are an endangered species where coaching has made a deadly impact on their population. In the world today there are roughly 3, 890 wild tigers whose population has actually increased since the last count of 3200 in 2011. But consider this, there were 100,000 tigers living at the beginning of the 20th century. India accounts for 70% of the world’s tiger population but today there are only 2,226 which was recorded in 2014, an increase from 1,411 in 2006. Most tigers poached end up in China where one skin is worth almost $1million.

The notorious Tiger Poacher called Sansar Chand in India was responsible for wiping out the entire Tiger population of Sariska Wildlife reserve in 2005 a feat he admitted to which included selling 470 tiger skins and 2130 leopard skins to only four clients from Nepal and Tibet. Chand ran the country’s largest illegal wildlife trade undetected for 40 years. He was arrested alongwth his wife and son in 1991. 

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6Poaching can lead to deforestation and defaunation

Animals living in the wild cannot recover and increase their populating as fast as poaching removes them. This leads to population decline that has a domino effect in seed dispersal that is disrupted where smaller plant species grow extinct. This also reduces the food of several smaller animals and herbivores leading to defaunation. 

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7They are a threat to tourism and employment

Because of poaching, several wildlife tourism destinations lose out on business that in turn leads to reduction in several employment opportunities because of negative publicity. 

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8Rampant poaching leads to widespread disease

Poaching leads to the emergence of zoonotic disease which are pathogens and bacteria transmitted from animals to humans. In the 1990’s the Ebola outbreaks in Congo and Gabon in Africa were linked to the rampant slaughter of apes for their meat. SARS in China and Hongkong was linked to consumption of meat form raccoons, dogs, ferret badgers and masked palm civets. Wild Chimpanzees in Cameroon are the biggest source of Simian Foamy virus and HIV 1 that leads to AIDS in humans. 

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