The year 2012 is not going to finish on a good note for tigers.

It is worthwhile pointing out that as many as 78 tigers have been killed, most of them by poachers, in 2012 – the highest number when you take the figures of last 12 years into consideration.

This sharp increase in the tiger deaths has cast aspersions on conservation efforts for the wild cats.

According to the 2010 tiger census, 1,706 tigers were left in the wild. Out of the 78 tigers killed in 2012 (till November 22), 50 fell victim to poachers. On the other hand, another 28 died because of natural causes.

These figures is a clear sign of the fact that the illegal tiger trade continues to prosper with quite a bit of demand coming from across the border, more so China.

Tiger body parts are commonly being employed to prepare medicines, mostly aphrodisiacs, in South-Asian countries. While the government is of the view that it has taken a number of steps in order to tackle tiger poaching, fact remains that the the efforts are not showing positive results as of now.

Six months ago, the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), widely been regarded as the premier agency for tiger conservation and protection modified its guidelines on treating tiger deaths.

The authority directed that poaching will be considered the cause of every tiger’s death unless proved otherwise.