With perhaps the biggest seizure of tiger parts in the country’s recent history, around 20kg of tiger bones have been seized in Guwahati airport, India.

With ten grams of tiger parts selling for an estimated cost of $20, authorities have intercepted shipments that could have been worth over $40,000 to smugglers on the black market.

Along with the tiger parts, the consignment contained 555kg of pangolin scales. Pangolins are highly protected under the Indian Wildlife Conservation Act, but like many animal products, there is a huge demand for pangolin scales for use in traditional Chinese medicines. A kilogram of pangolin scales can fetch as much as £1000.

While the seizure gave reason for conservation groups to celebrate, the estimated route that the consignment took to the area points towards Kaziranga National Park as its origin.

While the National Park is a site lauded for its work to protect many species, it has also developed a reputation for being vulnerable to poachers.

“Dimapur is the hub of poachers. All these parts were on their way to China, because it was consigned to Imphal and from Imphal it goes via Moreh and to Mynamar and then to China,” said Sukanta Das, Superintendent of the Anti-Smuggling Unit.

Any seizure such as this brings good and bad news. Authorities ability to intercept the shipment shows that good work is being done to halt the illegal trade in wildlife, and any seizure keeps money out of the hands of smugglers and poachers. However, the fact that the shipment is around at all indicates that animals are still being harmed in order to feed the black market in animal products.

A lot of hard work will have gone into uncovering the smuggling operation, but it will be the follow-up investigation that will prove crucial if this activity it going to be stopped once and for all.