Thai man jailed for up to 10 years for illegally selling tiger carcasses

The Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation (DNP) and related departments arrested a Thai man for running an online shop illegally selling tiger carcasses and other protected animals.

This comes in the wake of the arrest of two individuals in January this year for selling tiger carcasses online. The case was connected to another suspect managing a Facebook account under the name Maew Pong (translated as ghost cat), through which tiger carcasses were being offered.

Upon deeper investigation, authorities identified a 41 year old Thai man named Karn as the mastermind behind the illicit trade. Karn was apprehended at his residence in the central province of Pathum Thani on Wednesday, November 29, and a total of 500 carcasses were confiscated.

The seized products included 163 Bengal tiger carcasses, 108 leopard carcasses, 133 black panther carcasses, 77 clouded leopard carcasses and 19 Asian golden leopard carcasses.

Karn confessed that he ran the online shop alone and had been selling illegal carcasses for about two years. He did not hunt the animals himself but bought the entire body of each animal for 40,000 to 50,000 baht from another seller he met on Facebook.

After getting the carcasses, he would cut each part into pieces and sell them cheaply. For example, he sold the head of a Bengal tiger for about 20,000 baht and the body for about 12,000 baht. Most of his customers were animal carcass collectors or people who believed in the magical power of the carcasses.

Karn faces two charges including:

• Section 17 of the Wild Animal Conservation and Protection Act: having protected animals in procession without permission. The penalty will be imprisonment of up to five years, a fine of up to 500,000 baht, or both.
• Section 29 of the Wild Animal Conservation and Protection Act: selling protected animals without permission. The penalty will be imprisonment of up to 10 years, a fine of up to 1 million baht, or both.

Officers would continue to investigate other illegal traders linked to Karn. The carcasses would be sent to the DNP headquarters for further investigation to confirm the animal species.