RE-OPENING OF TIGER TRADE IN CHINA WOULD SPELL CATASTROPHE, WWF/TRAFFIC

Gland, Switzerland, Beijing, China – Plans being considered in China to test the viability of re-opening the domestic trade in tigers and their parts, banned since 1993, would spell disaster for the already critically endangered species, according to WWF and TRAFFIC, the wildlife trade monitoring network of WWF and IUCN (The World Conservation Union).

WWF, the global conservation organisation, and TRAFFIC believe that the re-opening of the trade of captive bred tigers for traditional medicine from so-called “tiger farms” for sales in China’s domestic market, would threaten the world’s remaining wild tiger populations. Tiger bone has been used as a treatment for rheumatism and related ailments for thousands of years in traditional Asian medicine.

“This could be the final act that drives the tiger towards extinction. We’re afraid that poachers living near the world’s last populations of tigers may kill them to supply illegal markets that are likely to develop alongside any new legal ones,” says Dr Susan Lieberman, Director WWF Global Species Programme.

The opening of the trade would also send the wrong signal to consumers, who may think it is acceptable to buy tiger parts, whether tiger bone in eastern China or tiger skins in western China, according to WWF and TRAFFIC.

The world’s tigers are at a record low, numbering around 5000. The domestic trade ban in China in 1993 gave a welcome boost to tiger conservation by curbing demand for tiger products from other range states such as India, Nepal, Bhutan, and Indonesia.