(CN): New Poll Shows an Overwhelming Majority of Chinese Public

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*New Poll Shows an Overwhelming Majority of Chinese Public

Supports Ban on Tiger Trade

 

*Beijing January 26, 2008 The Chinese public supports the ban on tiger trade

and stands ready to pitch in to save wild tigers, according to the results

of a new opinion poll released today.

 

The face-to-face survey of 1,880 people in Beijing, Chengdu, Guangzhou,

Guilin, Harbin, Kunming and Shanghai was conducted by Horizon Key, one of

China's pre-eminent public polling companies. Respondents, who statistically

represent the entire adult populations of these cities, were asked questions

about their use of tiger products, their preferences for products from wild

versus farmed tigers and their attitudes toward conservation of wild tigers

and China's 1993 tiger-trade ban.

 

Nearly 95 percent of respondents support China's tiger-trade ban. Among

those, more than 77 percent felt that keeping the ban was important for

China's image. Nearly 95 percent also said that they would take action to

save wild tigers, including abstaining from the use of tiger products.

 

" The results of this survey present the strikingly clear message that most

Chinese people care so much about wild tigers that they are willing to

change behaviors that threaten survival of tigers in the wild, said Judy

Mills of Save The Tiger Fund, which commissioned the study. " With this

strong support from the Chinese people, wild tigers can survive and thrive. "

 

 

However, the survey also reported nearly 50 percent of those polled had

consumed what they thought were tiger products. Most used tiger products as

medicines or health tonics and had done so since China's 1993 tiger-trade

ban was put in place. Among those consumers, nearly 66 percent of the

medicine users said they prefer products from wild tigers. Among the tonic

users, more than 74 percent preferred products from wild tigers. Among those

who used tiger skins, nearly 55 percent preferred skins from wild tigers. In

contrast, just under 7 percent of both medicine and tonic users preferred

products from farmed tigers. Among skin users, just over 4 percent favored

products from farmed tigers.

 

At present, businessmen in China have bred some 5,000 tigers in hope that

the 15-year trade ban will be lifted*. *These factory-farm owners are

lobbying the government to lift the ban, clearing the way for them to make

huge profits from the sale of tonic wine made with tiger bones. Meanwhile,

tiger experts fear that reopening trade in tiger products from any source

will cause a disastrous increase in poaching of the estimated 3,400 4,400

tigers remaining in the wild. For this reason, some say the fate of wild

tigers rests with China's maintaining and enforcing its trade ban.

 

" The preference for products from wild tigers documented by this survey

confirm our fears that lifting China's ban will send the message to poachers

that it's open season on tigers, which would be disastrous for wild tigers, "

said Grace Gabriel of the International Fund for Animal Welfare.

 

The primary use of tiger products in traditional Chinese medicine is to

remedy arthritic conditions. The traditional Chinese medicine community has

won praise from conservationists for finding and embracing effective

alternatives. Those petitioning China's government to lift the ban are

businessmen who stand to make millions of dollars from selling tiger-bone

wine.

 

The 171* *countries that are members of the Convention on International

Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) decided in June that tigers should not

be farmed for trade in their body parts and products.

 

(End)