切断されたトラの頭部、タイの「偽装動物園」で押収　密輸に関与か

【バンコクＡＦＰ＝時事】タイ当局は今週、対ラオス国境付近の「偽装動物園」を捜索し、切断されたトラの頭部を発見した。この施設は、野生生物の密輸組織との関わりが疑われている。（写真はタイ・ムクダハンにある「ムクダトラ公園牧場」で見つかったトラ。同国国立公園野生動植物保全局提供）
　捜索は先月３０日、北東部ムクダハン県にある「ムクダトラ公園牧場」で行われた。
　当局は同施設内で、生きたトラ５頭を保護。さらに、トラの部位も複数発見した。
　同施設は、５年前にトラ６頭が生まれたと主張していた。しかしＤＮＡ鑑定で、頭部を切断された１頭と保護された５頭のいずれも、同じ場所で飼育されている他のトラとは血縁関係がないことが判明。これにより、同施設がラオスやベトナムへ密輸される野生動物の一時的な収容施設として使われている疑いが浮上した。
　タイ国立公園野生動植物保全局の関係者はＡＦＰに対し「施設の関係者らは、２０１２年から動物園を開園する免許を持っているにもかかわらず、開園準備ができていないと説明していた」と明かした。同関係者によると、捜索が行われた際、施設の所有者はその場におらず、当局は事情聴取のためこの人物の行方を追っている。
　タイのある動物保護団体によれば、施設には２０１３年、２８頭のトラがいたが、５年後には５０頭に急増。しかし今年に入り、２５頭にまで減ったという。
　トラは中国とベトナムで毛皮と体の部位の需要が高く、密猟の横行につながっている。中国ではトラの体の部位は伝統薬に用いられる。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2020/12/07-11:53）

Authorities in Thailand found a severed tiger's head when they raided a fake zoo near the country's border with Laos that has suspected links to an illegal wildlife trafficking racket.
Officials seized five live tigers at the Mukda Tiger Park and Farm -- which have been sent to a wildlife sanctuary -- while other tiger parts were also discovered.
The site in the north-eastern province of Mukdahan had claimed six cubs were born at the facility five years ago, but DNA tests have since confirmed the five seized tigers and the decapitated animal were not related to any others at the park.
This has raised suspicions that the zoo was being used as a holding facility for wildlife being smuggled into Laos and Vietnam.
They have had a zoo licence to open as a business since 2012, but they claimed their facility was not ready to open, an official from the Thai Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation told AFP.
We got tipped off from various international agencies about the strange activities conducted by this zoo.
The zoo's owner was not present during the raid on Monday and was wanted for questioning, the official said.
The zoo had 28 tigers in 2013, and five years later the population had jumped to 50, according to conservation group Wildlife Friends Foundation Thailand. But by 2020 the number of tigers was down to 25.
Think of this as animal laundering; once you change the identities of the animals they can no longer be traced, Edwin Wiek, the group's founder, told AFP.
The profit from these tigers if sold can be between $5,000-$6,600 per tiger.
The Mukda (Tiger Park and Farm) is essentially a safe house where these tigers are being parked there until they're sold to their Chinese customers in Laos.
Southeast Asia is a key battleground in the fight to save the big cats, whose numbers globally have plummeted from about 100,000 a century ago to fewer than 4,000 today.
High demand for tiger pelts and body parts in China and Vietnam fuels poaching. The body parts are used in traditional Chinese medicines.