(CN) Catastrophe: China tiger farms feed thirst for parts

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http://planettiger.blogspot.com/2010/02/tiger-farms-in-china-feed-thirst-for.htm\

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Catastrophe: China tiger farms feed thirst for parts

 

Andrew Jacobs

 

Guilin: The crowd-pleasing Year of the Tiger, which begins on Sunday, could be a

lousy year for the estimated 3,200 tigers that still roam the world’s

diminishing forests.

With as few as 20 in the wild in China, the country’s tigers are a few gun

blasts away from extinction, and in India poachers are making quick work of the

tiger population, the world’s largest. The number there, around 1,400, is about

half that of a decade ago and a fraction of the 100,000 that roamed the

subcontinent in the early 20th century.

Shrinking habitat remains a daunting challenge, but conservationists say the

biggest threat to Asia’s largest predator is the Chinese appetite for tiger

parts. Despite a government ban on the trade since 1993, there is a robust

market for tiger bones, traditionally prized for their healing and aphrodisiac

qualities, and tiger skins, which have become cherished trophies among China’s

nouveau riche.

With pelts selling for $20,000 and a single paw worth as much as $1,000, the

value of a dead tiger has never been higher, say those who investigate the

trade. Last month the Indian government announced a surge in killings of tigers

by poachers, with 88 found dead in 2009, double the previous year. Because

figures are based on carcasses found on reserves or tiger parts seized at border

crossings, conservationists say the true number is far higher.

“All of the demand for tiger parts is coming from China,” said Belinda

Wright, executive director of the Wildlife Protection Society of India. “Unless

the Chinese change their attitude, the tiger has no future on this earth.”

If there is any mystery about what happens to the big cats at Xiongsen Tiger

and Bear Mountain Village in Guilin, it is partly explained in the gift shop,

where fuzzcoated bottles in the shape of a tiger are filled with “bone

strengthening” wine. The liquor, which costs $132 for a six-year-old brew, is

sold openly across the surrounding Guangxi region and beyond.

“This stuff works wonders,” said Zhang Hanchu, the owner of a spirits shop in

Guilin. A daily shot glass of the rice-based alcohol, he said, can reduce joint

stiffness, treat rheumatism and increase sexual vigour. With the Year of the

Tiger nearing, demand has been soaring, he said.

Opened in 1993 with financing from the state forestry administration,

Xiongsen is China’s largest tiger-breeding operation. Some of its 1,500 tigers

roam treeless, fenced-in areas, while many others are packed in small cages

where they pace agitatedly.

The park is a fairly dispiriting place. In addition to the tigers, there are

hundreds of capuchin monkeys rattling in cages, awaiting their fate as fodder

for medicinal elixirs or medical experiments. There are also about 300 Asiatic

brown bears which are tapped for their bile, the main ingredient of a lucrative

supplement said to improve eyesight.

Those who pay the park’s $12 entry fee are treated to an extravaganza of

tigers jumping through rings of fire or balancing on balls; if the crowds are

large enough, workers will place a cow and a tiger in an enclosure with

predictably gruesome results.

Until a spate of negative press two years ago, Xiongsen proudly sold tiger

steaks at its restaurant as “big king meat.” These days, the park takes a more

low-key approach. The word “tiger” no longer appears on the wine packaging —

“rare animal bones” is used instead — although those who sell the wine say the

key ingredient remains tiger bone. NYTNS

 

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Thank you for your compassion !

With best regards,

Debasis Chakrabarti

Compassionate Crusaders Trust

http://www.animalcrusaders.org