NEW DELHI: Demand from rich Chinese for Indian tiger pelts and parts used in traditional medicine fuels poaching and may lead to the extinction of the species in the wild, conservationists have warned.

Trade of tiger pelts from India into Chinese-ruled Tibet was flourishing despite laws banning the move, a report released in New Delhi by two conservation groups said.

The Wildlife Protection Agency and Environment Investigation Agency estimate only 1,500 to 2,000 wild Royal Bengal Tigers are left in India. Collusion between poachers, government officials and buyers could lead to their rapid extinction unless quick action was taken.

“The clock is ticking for the tiger and there is only so much more talking we can do, the time for action is now, before the tiger vanishes,” Belinda Wright, head of the Wildlife Protection Society of India, said in a statement.

“In China it is politicians who have decided to turn a blind eye to smuggling from India,” Wright also told a press conference.—AFP