{"id":3487,"date":"2025-10-08T14:09:22","date_gmt":"2025-10-08T14:09:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bangbizarre.com\/index.php\/2025\/10\/08\/north-koreans-eating-tigers-and-badgers-to-survive\/"},"modified":"2025-10-08T14:09:25","modified_gmt":"2025-10-08T14:09:25","slug":"north-koreans-eating-tigers-and-badgers-to-survive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bangbizarre.com\/index.php\/2025\/10\/08\/north-koreans-eating-tigers-and-badgers-to-survive\/","title":{"rendered":"North Koreans eating tigers and badgers to survive"},"content":{"rendered":"

2025-10-08 14:09:22<\/b>
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Starving North Koreans are resorting to hunting, selling and eating wild animals \u2014 including tigers and leopards, according to a new study.

\nThe research, led by scientists from University College London (UCL) and the Norwegian Institute for Nature Research, paints a bleak picture of a country where extreme poverty and food shortages have driven people to consume nearly every mammal \u201clarger than a hedgehog.\u201d

\nThe study claims black market traders are working alongside officials loyal to North Korea’s 41-year-old Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un\u2019s regime to profit from the illegal wildlife trade.

\nSpecies reportedly targeted include the Siberian tiger, Amur leopard, bears, deer, and the long-tailed goral, a goat-like mountain animal.

\nJoshua Elves-Powell, co-author and from UCL, said: “Almost every mammal species in North Korea larger than a hedgehog is opportunistically captured for consumptive use or trade.

\n“Even highly protected species are being traded, sometimes across the border to China.”

\nResearchers interviewed 42 North Korean defectors, who revealed that the country\u2019s devastating famine of the 1990s – which killed hundreds of thousands – forced people to turn to hunting wildlife to survive.

\nThough food conditions later improved, the practice reportedly continues both for consumption and for profit.

\nJoshua added: \u201cAs well as a domestic market in wild meat and animal body parts, an international trade developed in which smugglers would try to sell North Korean wildlife products across the border into China.\u201d

\nThe report – published in the journal Biological Conservation – warned that the ongoing exploitation of wildlife could have catastrophic consequences.

\nThe study concluded: “There is clearly a serious risk that the unsustainable exploitation of wildlife in North Korea has severe consequences, including the extirpation of key species and potential defaunation of North Korean landscapes.”
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