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Wolves in sheep’s clothing have competition – donkeys in tiger skin.

A large number of tiger skins, claws and teeth seized by law-enforcement officials are turning out to be fake – they include painted skins of donkeys and dogs, and artificial claws and teeth sometimes made of plastic or belonging to other animals, officials say.

The practice is propping up the illegal trade in tigers by keeping alive interest in the skins, draining the energies of law-enforcement officials, and providing a cover to the clandestine wildlife business, authorities say. Only 3,500 or so tigers remain in the world, mostly in India.

“We have caught quite a few fakes. They turn out to be skins of donkeys, dogs or cows. It is becoming a serious problem that is a drag on resources, and is luring poor people to do this sort of thing,” Dr Rajesh Gopal, head of the National Tiger Conservation Authority, told the Hindustan Times.

Such seizures also falsely inflate wildlife crime numbers, officers say. So for the first time, officials and law-enforcement agencies will be provided training to distinguish real tiger skins from fakes using an elaborate online field guide that also involves scrutiny by microscopes.

Policemen who seize skins will be educated about nasal openings, cheeks, white hair on the inner surface of the earlobe, colour of the belly and forelegs, shape of teeth, and the number and shape of claws, according to Chennai-based Dr. P. Subramanyam, the authority’s regional deputy director who prepared the field guide.

Officials hope that will prevent several like the seizures in Tamil Nadu, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar in which legal proceedings began, but had to be halted when officials finally realized that the skins did not belong to the endangered tigers – but donkeys.

Email author: neelesh.misra@hindustantimes.com