CONSERVATION GROUPS PARLEY WITH CHINESE GOVERNMENT TO FIGHT TRADE IN TIGER PRODUCTS

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http://www.shanghaidaily.com/art/2006/09/01/290782/State_urged_to_uphold_ban_on_\

tiger_bone_sales.htm

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*State urged to uphold ban on tiger bone sales*

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*2006-09-01 *

*ANIMAL rights groups are up in arms after several Chinese tiger parks

pressed the government to lift its ban on the trade in tiger products.

 

Conservation International, TRAFFIC, the International Fund for Animal

Welfare, the Wildlife Conservation Society, the World Wide Fund for Nature

and the Save the Tiger Fund called a joint meeting in Beijing yesterday to

urge the government to resist the pressure.

 

The groups expressed concern that China's robust internal market for tiger

bones would continue to threaten the animals in the wild.

 

Representatives warned that proposals by tiger parks to legalize the trade

in tiger parts and derivatives could stimulate an increase in demand,

seriously undermining China's decade-long campaign to raise public awareness

of the need to protect the animals.

 

The call came after the government announced that its first regulation on

the trade of endangered species would take effect today.

 

" We hope that China, in the spirit of this new regulation and the upcoming

2008 green Olympics, will reiterate its commitment to the 1993 ban on the

trade of all tiger derivatives from all sources, and thereby continue to

play a responsible leadership role in protecting the world's few wild

remaining tigers, " said Grace Ge, Asia director of the International Fund

for Animal Welfare.

 

Many Chinese believe tiger bones to be an effective treatment for illnesses

such as rheumatism, authorities said.

 

Conservation groups estimate the number of tigers in the wild may have

dropped well below 5,000 due to the loss of habitat and poaching. Most of

China's remaining wild tigers are found in the northeast near the Russian

border.

 

" In China, it is estimated that fewer than 20 wild tigers remain in the

northeast, and about 30 roam in southwest China along its borders with

Myanmar and Laos, " said Xie Yan, a professor with the China Academy of

Sciences.

 

China's new regulations help protect wildlife listed by the Convention on

International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, which

China signed in 1981.

 

 

 

 

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*Xinhua*