INDIA'S tigers are being slaughtered by gangs of poachers to provide bones for herbal medicine shops in Hongkong and China as well as Chinese communities in Europe.
Wildlife experts fear the illegal trading, worth millions of dollars, could wipe out the big cat from the sub-continent's national parks within the next decade.
Twenty years after Project Tiger was launched in India, with massive injections of international funding to save the beast, authorities in Delhi are investigating what they claim is a sophisticated smuggling racket run by gangs who they believe have forged links with the underworld in Hongkong and China.
Under the Animal and Plants (Protection of Endangered Species) Ordinance 187, it is forbidden to export, import, sell or possess an endangered species, or any body parts in Hongkong.
Tiger bones are sold mainly on the black market, but a South China Morning Post investigation found that in North Point it was relatively easy to procure what was claimed to be the real thing, even though the maximum penalty for its sale is a $50,000 fine and six months' imprisonment.
One shopkeeper offered ''ground tiger bone'' for $10 a tael and pointed to what he said were ''tiger paws'' in the display cabinet. These were priced between $4,000 and $5,000.
A nearby medicine shop produced a polythene bag from a drawer under the counter which the owner said was tiger bone.