OAKLAND, Calif. -- The Chinese Year of the Tiger has just begun, but poaching and habitat destruction that have decimated the tiger population worldwide may lead to a rough year for the great cat unless renewed efforts to save the species are successful.

The story of tigers today is one part encouraging success, another part continuing inhumanity. World Wildlife Fund conservationist Barney Long recently returned from a trip to Cambodia where he said tigers are near extinction from poaching and forest clear-cutting.

“If we can't save the tiger, then what can we save?” asked Long. “The tiger is really the emblem of what's at stake in sustainable development.”

Currently in all of Asia, there may be only 1,200 wild tigers, some 98 percent fewer than a century ago.

Loss of tiger habitat stands as a major contributor to the dwindling numbers. The animals’ forests are being logged and mined, while roads have made tigers more accessible to poachers.

In fact, tiger experts estimate there are far fewer wild tigers worldwide than are held captive just in the U.S.

“In captivity we have an astounding number of tigers, most of them with private owners,” explained Oakland Zoo general curator Colleen Kinzley.:05

About 1,000 tigers are in U.S. zoos and legitimate sanctuaries. The Oakland Zoo rescued three tigers a decade ago from a circus. The San Francisco Zoo bred its pure Sumatran tigers in part of a remarkable program to preserve the endangered animals.

But an estimated 9,000 tigers are privately owned in the U.S.

“Unfortunately they are very prolific breeders, so even if they are kept in poor conditions, they are likely to reproduce,” said Kinzley.

KTVU discovered federal tiger licenses are easy to obtain. While it's illegal under California law for private citizens to keep a tiger, state and local laws often go unenforced because the tigers usually are kept on private property.

In southern California, investigators at an illegal tiger breeding farm said they recovered dozens of tiger skins, skeletons and frozen carcasses. International experts said on the black market a tiger could fetch $80,000.

“There's such a tremendous market for tiger parts,” said Kinzley. “Probably some of these unscrupulous people are breeding their tigers to sell into the black market.”

Some Asian communities believe tiger bones, skins and other body parts have mystical and medical powers, working as a supposed rheumatism cure and an aphrodisiac.

Lixin Huang, the Director of the American College of Traditional Chinese Medicine in San Francisco, said tiger products are on the shelves in some Bay Area stores today.

“Some people will stick to that old belief or tradition or lack of awareness,” said Huang. “They didn't know this was endangered species. They didn't know this is against the law.”

Since the last Year of the Tiger in 1998, Asian medicine specialists in San Francisco have educated people locally and abroad that tiger is no longer a part of Chinese medicine. Those experts said there is a compelling reason for international laws protecting tigers; there likely are fewer than 50 wild tigers left in China.

“This is an issue we have to deal with,” said World Wildlife Fund conservationist Long “If we don't take care of the nature, we won't have the medicine we practiced for 3,000 years.”

Officials in China, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam allow tiger farms. China alone has about 6,000 confined cats. Although the governments ban tiger trade, conservationists said farms often serve as fronts for illicit folk medicine.

“What's increasing rapidly in the mainland is the folklore,” said Long. “The folk medicine -- things like tiger tonic wine -- and this really is the status symbol of the businessman elite.”

Across the Chinese border in Russia last week, game wardens dart a male Amur tiger to save it as part of an aggressive program to protect wild tigers and their habitat. Siberia is the only place on the planet where wild tiger populations are increasing.

“When you have political will, when you have correct finances, tigers can be saved,” said Long. “They've come back in many places including India, Nepal and Russia.”

Headed by Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin there will be a head-of-state tiger summit in Vladivostok this September.

The World Bank promises $1.5 million for tiger programs. Conservationists hope by the end of the year, all 13 tiger nations will commit to doubling the numbers of wild tigers by the next Year of the Tiger.