NationStates Jolt Archive


China allows limited trade of tiger bones

Aryavartha
26-10-2005, 01:16
http://www.dailypioneer.com/indexn12.asp?main_variable=front%5Fpage&file_name=story5%2Etxt&counter_img=5?headline=China~allows~limited~trade~of~tiger~bones

China allows limited trade of tiger bones

Prerna Singh Bindra / New Delhi

In yet another deathblow to the critically endangered tiger, China has reportedly permitted the domestic sale of tiger bone, banned since 1993.
According to NGOs operating in China, the Department of Wildlife Conservation, State Forestry Administration, has circulated a document to provincial forestry departments that authorises the sale of tiger bone from farms to certain traditional Chinese medicine factories only for use in manufacturing medicine. It is learnt that open sale of tiger bone products will not be allowed in retail markets but will be used only in select hospitals authorised by the government. :mad:

Reportedly, the document details that only farms which have more than 500 tigers can sell tiger bones subject to permission from the State Forestry Administration.

At this point, according to the Campaign Against Tiger Trafficking (CATT), there is at least one tiger farm in China that has a population of sufficient size to qualify. When questioned, the Press aide in the Chinese embassy said that they don't have an official statement as yet.

It appears that the government, fearing a severe backlash from NGOs and various international bodies and governments involved in tiger conservation issues, has chosen to maintain silence. In an e-mail to concerned authorities and NGOs, CATT has said that while they have been reliably informed about China's decision to permit tiger bone sale, all efforts to get a confirmation from the Chinese government have failed. Tiger bone has been used in traditional Chinese medicinal use as a painkiller and is anti-inflammatory.

It is feared that, opening the trade even marginally, will be the final act that drives the tiger towards extinction. Says Judy Mils of CATT, 'Any trade in tiger bone, no matter how small or tightly controlled, could prove fatal to the world's last wild tigers. News of any sort of legalised trade will confuse consumers and reignite demand quieted by the 1993 ban of tiger bone from China's pharmacopoeia. Even a tiny upswing in demand from a nation of 1.3 billion people could wipe out many wild tiger populations.'

Ashok Kumar, of the Wildlife Trust of India, points out that if true, this will spell disaster for the few remaining wild populations. 'Countries across the globe have striven hard over the years to make tiger part trade illegal. Giving legal sanction, even in the smallest quantities, will give the trade a stamp of respectability. If supply is legalised, it will give a boost to the illegal trade in wild tiger derivatives.'

Studies show that derivatives from wild tigers prove cheaper, than those from captive or farmed tigers, thus increasing pressure on wild tigers.

Less than 5,000 wild tigers survive in the world, and are protected in their habitats, both by national and international laws. They are hunted relentlessly for their skin and bones, which are used to treat rheumatism and related ailments in traditional Asian medicine. It has been proved, beyond doubt, that the Royal Bengal Tiger in India -presently facing its worst ever crisis - has been harvested to meet the supply of skins and bones across the globe. Giving a legal stamp, even in the moist limited manner, will be the final nail on the tiger's coffin.

I am pissed off :mad:

PS: The link may not work after today, since Pioneer moves the story to archives and the link will become broken or point to new story. Their reporting is reliable and respected, but they suck at this internet thing.
Acidosis
26-10-2005, 17:39
Me too. Paticularly as its not just China's tigers at risk, Chinese hunters frequently hunt in Burma too and its border with India isn't the most secure either.

I makes you wonder, what are all these people that believe in "Traditional Remedies" gonna do when they finally kill the last Snow Tiger/White Rhino/whatever.
Aryavartha
26-10-2005, 17:48
India is the homeland of tigers and it is also our national animal. Tigers were in thousands just 150 years back. The elites of the British Raj hunted a lot. Has anybody read Jim Corbett here?

The tiger population went to a few hundreds and was on the brink on extinction. It took a great effort by the then PM Indira Gandhi to save it from extinction through Project Tiger - a dedicated project to revive the tiger population.

Of late poaching is the biggest threat and the main market for the poachers is this "traditional" medicine for the male insecurities of the chinese. I would be goddamned to see the magnificient creatures go extinct.