(IN-CN)China not curbing tiger parts trade: conservationists

[Guest guest]

http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/world-news/china-not-curbing-tiger-parts-tra\

de-conservationists_100264293.html#

 

China not curbing tiger parts trade: conservationists

October 22nd, 2009 - 8:48 pm ICT by IANS

New Delhi, Oct 22 (IANS) Tiger skin from India is being clandestinely sold in

Chinese markets, but Beijing is turning a blind eye despite repeated warnings,

conservationists said here Thursday following an undercover operation carried

out by them.

“China has run out of excuses. They tell us they are doing their best, but we

have been warning them about this for years and there are still huge gaps in

their enforcement effort. If they can put a man into space, they can do more to

save the wild tiger,” Debbie Banks, lead campaigner of the Environmental

Investigation Agency (EIA), said at a press conference.

 

China is failing in its duty to protect the endangered species in the run up to

the Year of the Tiger in 2010, with tiger skin and bones being illegally traded

there, EIA - which carried out the undercover operation - said in a report.

 

Currently, the global tiger population in the wild may be as few as 3,100, with

around 1,400 in India.

 

The report comes just days before a high level summit in Kathmandu where

delegations from tiger range countries, including India and China, will meet to

thrash out a roadmap for big cat conservation.

 

Sold as luxury items for home decor or clothing in Tibet and China, tiger skins

fetch around $11,660-21,860 each, while bones, which are used for traditional

medicine, sell for $1,250 per kg. Large amounts of money are involved in the

trade, which is controlled by organised criminal networks.

 

Over the course of a three-week investigation in July and August this year, EIA

recovered four full tiger skins (royal Bengal tigers), 12 leopard skins, 11 snow

leopard skins and two clouded leopard skins, along with dozens of pieces of

skin, bones and skulls.

 

“At a horse festival in Tibet, nine people were seen wearing tiger skins and 25

wearing leopard skins in full view of the local authorities,” said Banks at the

joint press conference with Belinda Wright of the Wildlife Protection Society of

India (WPSI).

 

Buying and selling tiger derivatives is illegal under Chinese law and the trade

is outlawed under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species

(CITES), of which China is a member. Most of the big cat skins sold in China are

sourced from neighbouring countries such as India, Myanmar and Nepal, the report

said.

 

Wright said: “Although Chinese law has banned the use of tiger derivatives in

traditional medicines, the existence of tiger breeding farms in the country has

raised questions on the government’s sincerity to deal with the issue. Earlier,

these tigers were killed for their body parts. Now it is banned.”

 

--

Thank you for your compassion !

With best regards,

Debasis Chakrabarti

Compassionate Crusaders Trust

http://www.animalcrusaders.org