Our UK director Richard Hargreaves has investigated this disturbing new business and his report is worth reading.
Extract:
We know that entire tiger carcasses are immersed in vats during the tiger bone wine making process so it is therefore entirely plausible that these lion carcasses could also have been entire or virtually entire when exported. If so, that is a significant injection into the Asian trade in wild cat parts and derivatives that, guided by the lessons from history, is likely to increase demand for further supply of lion parts - not just from captive bred sources in South Africa, but from all sources throughout the rest of Africa too. Indeed, the leap from 92 lion carcass exports to Lao PDR in 2009, to 235 carcasses exported there in 2010, is strong indicative evidence that this perceived / potential increase in demand is already well underway.
If all these 327 carcasses were entire or virtually entire, as CACH suspects they may well have been, it would be the strongest evidence yet of the true extent of South Africa's involvement in the Asian trade in wild cat parts and derivatives. It would no longer be appropriate to merely consider South Africa's lion bone trade as a new, fairly minor trade, that is not very significant. Instead we would have to acknowledge it as the highly established industry that these figures indicate – an industry whose export to Lao PDR branch enjoyed growth of approximately 150% between 2009 and 2010… Read more on the CACH website..
