The tiger, Panthera tigris, one of the world's most magnificent and revered animals, faces possible extinction in the wild. Since the turn of the century, its habitat and numbers have been reduced by 95 percent. For a million years the "King of the Jungle" lorded over a territory stretching from eastern Turkey to the Russian Far East, its forest home extending northward to Siberia and southward into Bali. In this century alone, the Bali, Javan, and Caspian tigers have become extinct. Tragically, the remaining five sub-species are at risk of meeting the same fate. The tiger faces an onslaught of poaching throughout its range. In the 1990s, hundreds of tigers have been killed to meet the demand for their bones and other parts, which are used for traditional medicines in China, Taiwan, and Korea, and exported to Chinese communities all over the world, including those in Australia, Europe, and the USA. Following a tip-off from TRAFFIC India, WWF's local wildlife monitoring network, New Delhi police in 1993 seized a half tonne (500 kg) of tiger bones, representing the remains of between 40 and 50 tigers. In October 1995, the Indian government told the CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) Asia Regional Meeting in Tokyo that it had seized another half tonne of tiger bone so far that year. During the same gathering, Indonesia stated that poaching of the Sumatran tiger was "uncontrolled" and said illegal hunting and trading pressures on rhinos and tigers were "overwhelming". Earlier in 1995, Cambodia reported that every month 12 to 15 of its tigers were being killed, and in Vietnam five known deaths were confirmed during the first six months of 1995. Experience has shown that this is only the tip of the iceberg because the trade is clandestine. Poverty is killing the tiger in Vietnam, say some scientists. In 1998, farmers throughout Southeast Asia, particularly those engaged in subsistence agriculture, suffered from one of the worst droughts in history - so they have turned to the sale of wildlife as a means of income. The tiger in Indochina is possibly disappearing faster than anywhere else in the world. Conservation work has been notoriously difficult as economic hardship and war have hampered protection, research, and training. Some of the forests that do remain are hauntingly silent.