Can dead tigers stored in freezers at Chinese zoos help save their wild brethren from extinction? China鈥檚 government thinks that allowing the bones of captive-bred tigers to be sold as anti-rheumatic remedies will keep wild tigers from the poachers鈥� grasp.
While China banned all trade in material taken from tigers in 1993, the government now argues that selling skeletons collected from captive animals since the ban was imposed would help fund conservation.
Conservationists say the plan is a disaster, as poachers could trick approved sellers into accepting illegal material from wild-killed tigers. 鈥淚f the Chinese government wants to push this through, it will escalate poaching and fuel demand again,鈥� says Joanna Benn of WWF, the conservation group which on Monday publicised the Chinese government鈥檚 plans by releasing a translation of a Chinese newspaper story.
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The South China Weekend newspaper reported on 28 July that 30 tiger skeletons could be approved for processing and sale as remedies in the first year. The paper said that China has dozens of tiger 鈥渇arms鈥� where animals are bred for zoos, and so has a huge stock of tiger bone, skin and organs. CITES, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, estimates there are 3000 captive-bred tigers in the country.
WWF says that reopening the trade would send a message to consumers that buying tiger parts is acceptable even though there are only 5000 tigers left in the wild, an all-time low. 鈥淲e鈥檇 like the Chinese government to come out and say they鈥檙e not going to do it,鈥� says Benn.
