Deficient domestic laws combined with lax enforcement means Burma's wild cats often find their way to Burmese markets in form of skins and other body parts, according to a comprehensive study by a wildlife trade watchdog.
Released yesterday, the TRAFFIC Southeast Asia report, 'The wild cat trade in Myanmar,' identified a minimum of 1,158 individual wild cats for sale on select Burmese markets between the years 1991 and 2006.
Five of the animal species prominently displayed, notes TRAFFIC, are theoretically protected by national legislation: the tiger, leopard, clouded leopard, marbled cat and Asiatic golden cat.
In crude recognition of global supply and demand, the report's authors relate that most markets catering to the trade of wild cat parts are located on international borders for the convenience of international buyers, with buyers from Thailand, China and Taiwan the most common.
Disturbingly, TRAFFIC also discloses that species globally threatened are seen for sale in higher numbers than non-threatened species.
A signatory to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, Burmese authorities are legally bound to police the illegal trade of animals and animal parts.
However, the audacity of shopkeepers to offer contraband merchandise in plain public view "suggests a serious lack of enforcement effort to prevent this illegal trade, and highlights the threat that trade poses to already threatened species," laments the Malaysian-based organization.
A minimum of 107 individual tigers were identified in markets over the course of the study, while TRAFFIC sites a 2003 report that estimated the population of tigers, an endangered species, in Burma to be no more than 150.
If immediate steps are not taken to protect the dwindling number of tigers, caution the authors, Burma's jungles may soon no longer serve as hunting grounds for the animal.
Whole skins, canine teeth and skulls are said to be the most common items of wild cats on display, parts which buyers typically display as trophies or use as good luck charms.
Tachileik, in Burma's Shan State and opposite the northernmost point in Thailand, while also providing relatively easy access to buyers from China as well, is identified as the unofficial capital of Burma's wild cat trade.
In addition to Tachileik, the other markets surveyed were at Three Pagoda Pass on the Thai border, Mong La on the border with China, and the Golden Rock market near Kyaiktiyo in Burma's Mon State.
