Trade and Poaching: India

Since 1996, The Fund for The Tiger has partnered with various effective, hard-hitting programs of The Wildlife Protection Society of India [WPSI] under the dynamic leadership of Belinda Wright. We are happy to announce that their signature campaign, The Investigation into Poaching and Trade of Wild Tigers, has clearly been paying off. We've received confirmation from Nitin Desai, WPSI’s Director of Operations in Central India, that since the launch of two major wildlife crime operations: one in Maharashtra in 2013, and the other in the village of Gandai in 2015, there have been no reports of tiger poaching for international trade by organized crime in Central India. This is a remarkable accomplishment. Sadly however, tigers continue to die domestically. In 2021, the WPSI investigated the deaths of 127 wild tigers who died from infighting, retaliatory poisoning, electrocutions, road or train accidents, local poaching, and natural causes. In 2022, WPSI assisted wildlife enforcement agencies with information on 16 cases in India and another 6 in Nepal, resulting in the apprehension of 62 alleged criminals.