Tiger trade ( EIA Debbie banks speaks out)

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 dcor 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 governments sincerity to deal with the issue. Earlier, these tigers were killed for their body parts. Now it is banned.

Category:

Education

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• Tiger trade
• EIA Debbie Banks

[JoTheGunny]

Slaughtered only for money... how stultified can some people be?

Those poachers and traders should be killed for their body parts, there are enough who need new organs.

[tigermate7]

@JoTheGunny, Yes you are so right, it gives a bad reputation to rest of innocent people in china who have a love and passion for these magnificent animals and some Asian people are victim of abuse and just breaks my heart they have become perfidious.

[hooner81]

I support the tigers, and a documentary that EIA did regarding the tigers really brought my attention to the seriousness of their exctinction, here in australia we had a australian tiger and the last one alive was captive in a zoo back in the 1930's, I dont want that to happen to the tigers.... I wish people would stop deforestation and think about our animals and land instead of blood money.... and control because thats what humans are about and it disgusts me... to think that I am a human.

[trobe23z]

Jesus we need to boycott the chinese. This makes me sick and these people aught to be ashamed of themselves. I left the c in chinese not capital on purpose.

[sharif39]

china has only 300 tigers in the wild but they have 5000 in the farm.so they can

sell them anyway people come from different part of the world to see these tigers .Srilanka has croc farm they export croc skin make money so we have to go against them too.hey its same like poultry.I am with chinese.fucken indian got lot of problems fix those problems.

[theblackynigger]

I dont like that people kill this beautiful animals!

What are for SICK people,that can do this?????!!!!!

they should kill this people they killed tiger!!!

[theblackynigger]

I dont like that people kill this beautiful animals!

What are for SICK people,that can do this?????!!!!!

[theblackynigger]

I dont like that people kill this beautiful animals!

What are for SICK people,that can do this?????!!!!!