New Delhi: The tiger is being relentlessly poached in the north-east Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh and in the contiguous forests in the neighbouring Tibet Autonomous Region of China by poachers from Burma, renowned biologist George Schaller said.

He said that Lisu and Mishmi tribesmen from the borders of Arunachal Pradesh in India and Kachin hills in Burma were constantly moving into India and Tibet for poaching the remaining populations of the tiger in that region. The skin and bones and other derivatives like the penis were then being smuggled into the markets of south-east Asia. Notably, the region is affected by insurgency, which has repercussions in both India and Burma. ” I visited Kachin on an invitation to to help the government of Burma set up wildlife sanctuaries in that region, I spoke to people there and saw it happening,” he said.

Returning to India on a personal trip after several years, Dr Schaller was travelling with a group of keen wildlifers from USA and met Ashok Kumar, Vivek Menon and Aniruddha Mookerjee of the Wildlife Trust of India for a discussion on the Indian conservation scenario on April 16.

“The region has excellent untouched forests especially in places called Medog in Tibet and Hukong in Burma and both have noteworthy populations of tigers and both are under heavy poaching pressure,” he said. The areas being extremely remote cannot be effectively patrolled apart from the fact that hunting is a way of life with the people living in the areas, he pointed out.