Making a Killing in the Year of the Tiger

8/14/2019 Making a Killing in the Year of the Tiger

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the impression that tiger consumption is legitimate and perpetuate what had previously been awaning demand for dead tigers in China.

Concerned that illegal trade of tiger parts, wherever it occurred, would undermine the effectivenessof CITES and threaten the survival of wild tigers, CITES Parties adopted, by consensus, a series ofdecisions at CoP14, calling for improved law enforcement and stricter domestic policies.Specifically, Decision 14.69 directs Parties with intensive operations breeding tigers on a

commercial scale shall implement measures to restrict the captive population to a level supportiveonly to conserving wild tigers; tigers should not be bred for the trade of their parts and

derivatives.

Cage after cage house tigers on the Guilin tiger farm. Sinopix / IFAW

Sadly, there has been little progress in implementing the CITES decisions. Weak law enforcementhas proved to be no match for the rampant poaching of tigers in the wild, sophisticated smugglingoperations that transport tiger parts across international borders and the brisk selling of tigerproducts on tiger farms and on the Internet. The illegal trade of tiger parts and products, violatingCITES and domestic trade bans, has pushed the tiger to another crisis point.

Surveys in India, long thought a tiger stronghold, indicate that there may be as few as 1,200surviving wild tigers. In 2009 alone, the tiger mortality rate in India increased by 20 percent. Anannual survey conducted by the Wildlife Conservation Society showed a possible 30-40 percentdecline in the Amur tiger population in the Russian Far East, primarily due to poaching and habitat

degradation. The overall population of wild tigers may have dropped to below 3,500.

The Year of the Tiger, an auspicious year in the Chinese lunar calendar, has begun. Cashing in onthe rage for tiger merchandise, commercial tiger farms and businesses are stepping up theirmarketing of tiger products. To evade the governments ban on tiger bone in TCM, these farmsopenly sell alcohol-based drinks purported to contain tiger bone as health tonics.

The Chinese news magazine Southern Weekendreported that bottles of Nurture Bone Wine,advertised as containing fragments of tiger bone, are sold for $115-$410 at the tiger farm in Harbin,China, only ten meters away from a freezer containing hundreds of tiger carcasses. 6

6 Southern Weekend, February 9, 2010.A Deadly Gamble for Tigers.http://www.infzm.com/content/41424
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The New York Times revealed that bone strengthening wine in tiger-shaped bottles, produced atthe winery associated withXiongsen Bear and TigerMountain Village, are openly sold as tigerbone wine across the surrounding region and beyond.7

Various types of Nurture Bone Wine and tonics claiming to contain tiger bone are sold online and at tigerfarms in China. IFAW

TheMail on Sunday8 reported that 200,000 bottles of tiger bone wine are sold annually from awine cellar that stores 8,000 tons of liquor infused with 600 tiger bodies at the Xiongsen TigerFarm.

In addition to media reports, IFAWs recent investigations in China have found an increase in theillegal sale of products claiming to contain tiger parts, both online and in stores. A website namedTiger bone wine (in Chinese, www.laohujiu.com) openly promotes the trade of tiger parts andproducts, including tiger bone wine, pelts, whiskers, testicles, teeth, meat, urine and penises. Thesite claims its association with the Xiongsen Tiger Farm and boasts of the wide coverage in Chinaof the companys retail shops.

Fueled by Chinas rapid economic growth and increasing consuming power, commercial trade oftiger parts from these farms has renewed interest in and demand for high-end products from tigersand other Asian big cats. This illegal trade is rekindling the significantly reduced TCM demand for

tiger parts in China, stimulating the illegal, global trade in wildlife and contributing to increasedpoaching of wild tigers.

IFAW welcomes the recent directive from the Chinese government to crack down on the illegaltrade of tiger parts and products and to destroy the stockpiles held at tiger-breeding facilities. IFAWurges the immediate implementation of the directive, including the development of publicawareness campaigns to reduce consumption of tiger parts, as well as the prevention of illegal tradeof tiger parts and products by the tiger breeding facilities.

7 New York Times, February 12, 2010. Tiger Farms in China Feed Thirst for Parts.http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/13/world/asia/13tiger.html?fta=y8 Mail on Sunday, February 10, 2010.Exposed: Dark secret of the farm where tigers' bodies are plundered to make185 wine.http://www.mailonsunday.co.uk/news/article-1252500/Exposed-Dark-secret-farm-tigers-bodies-plundered-make-185-wine.html#
http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMTMxMzIwMTE2.htmlhttp://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMTMxMzIwMTE2.htmlhttp://www.laohujiu.com/http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/13/world/asia/13tiger.html?fta=yhttp://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/13/world/asia/13tiger.html?fta=yhttp://www.laohujiu.com/http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMTMxMzIwMTE2.html


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IFAW is working to ensure that tigers have a bright future. IFAW/W. Poole

IFAW recommends that: The Chinese government declare an immediate and permanent ban in all trade ofall parts and

derivatives of tigers and other Asian big cats. In addition to destroying stockpiles of tiger parts,as urged in CITES Resolution Conf. 12.5, China should support international efforts toeliminate the trade of tiger parts and derivatives by phasing out tiger farms.

CITES Parties support Doc. 43.2 with all proposed amendments to strengthen Resolution Conf.12.5 on the conservation of and trade in tigers and other Appendix I Asian big cat species. Inparticular, Parties should support the integration into the revised resolution of the language inDecision 14.69: Parties with intensive operations breeding tigers on a commercial scale shallimplement measures to restrict the captive population to a level supportive only to conserving

wild tigers; tigers should not be bred for the trade of their parts and derivatives.

CITES Parties adopt additional language that eliminates all trade from any source, as well asany new uses of parts and derivatives from tigers and other Asian big cat species, to removeother possible threats to wild tigers and other Asian big cats.

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Making a Killing in the Year of the Tiger