I\'d like to think that this is more than a PR Exercise. China has over 5000 tigers in the breeding farms for traditional medicines & is trying to legalize the trading of tiger parts world wide.

Baby boom for endangered tigers
The endangered Siberian tiger has been given a boost, with the birth in captivity of 84 cubs since March this year, Chinese state media report.

An official from China\'s feline breeding centre told Xinhua news agency the cubs were all well. Thirteen tigers are due to give birth by October.

The Siberian tiger, the largest natural member of the cat family, is one of the world\'s 10 most endangered creatures.

Only 400 live in the wild, of which most are in the Russian Far East.

The Hengdaohezi Feline Breeding Centre, located in the suburbs of the north-eastern city of Harbin, in the northern Heilongjiang province, was set up in 1986 with just eight tigers. It now contains 750.

It plans to release 620 of them into the wild, the agency says.

Scientists are trying to set up a gene bank to ensure the genetic diversity of the species.

Read the part in red & bold

Tiger park calls for legalization of tiger trade
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2007-04-28 08:42

HARBIN, April 27 -- Liu Dan has been raising tigers for more than 20 years, but his dream is to persuade the Chinese government to lift its ban on the trade of tiger parts.

Calls from within China to remove the ban have grown louder in recent months, causing many international groups to voice their concerns that legalizing the trade of tiger bone for medicinal purposes would stimulate demand for tiger products and increase illegal poaching of wild tigers.

But Liu, chief engineer of the Hengdaohezi Feline Breeding Center in northeast China\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s Heilongjiang Province, the world\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s largest Siberian tiger breeding base, remains unfazed. For Liu, a tiger park without the opportunity to sell is simply not financially viable.

\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"We cannot afford to raise the tigers, and we are very short of money now,\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" said Liu.

The Harbin tiger park\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s tiger population has grown from eight, when the park opened in 1986, to around 700. It is set to be home to 1,000 tigers by 2010.

\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"An adult tiger eats about five to ten kilos of meat a day, plus medicines and other nutrients: it costs an average of 100 yuan (about 13 U.S. dollars) for each tiger every day,\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" Liu said.

\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"Although the government gives tax breaks, allowances and expenses to train the tigers to live in the wild, the center\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s major revenue comes from ticket sales, which average about 10 million yuan a year and is only enough to pay for a year\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s food supply for 300 tigers,\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" he said.

\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"We have to exercise birth control, replace beef with cheaper chicken and cut meals for the animals,\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" Liu said.

\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"We can not pay our staff their salaries in time and the center is already in millions of debt. We can tell our staff their pay is to be delayed, but we can not tell the tigers that they will have no food,\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" he said.

Liu added that the center is keeping more than 100 dead tiger bodies in giant freezers, which cost more than two million yuan every year to operate, in the hope the government will rescind the ban.

Liu has complained of the problems of overpopulation in the park for the last couple of years, but in 2002, park chiefs actually set a target of having 1,000 tigers by 2010. It seems the park has always been gambling on the government doing away with the ban and calls into question their efforts to reintroduce tigers into the wild.

In 1986, when the base was established with central government funding, trade of tiger parts was still legal and the park made money from selling parts of dead tigers. But in 1993, the ban was imposed after fierce lobbying from conservationists as it became clear the population of tigers in the wild was dwindling alarmingly. The Chinese government also deleted tiger bone from traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) dictionaries.

Conservationists are campaigning against the lifting of the ban, denouncing it as \\\\\\\\\\\\\\"a bad business decision\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" which will result in more illegal poaching and the virtual distinction of the species.

\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"It costs thousands of dollars to raise a tiger on a farm, but as little as one bullet to poach one, and wild tigers are regarded as more potent sources of medicine,\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" said Ge Rui, chief representative of the Asian Office of the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW).

Statistics show that only 2,500 breeding adult tigers survive in the wild, 80 percent of them in India and only 50 in China, and they are under severe threat from loss of habitat, a decline in the population of their prey and poaching.

\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"A relaxation in Chinese rules would drive tigers to extinction,\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" she said.

Liu is desperate. He says he has tried other ways to raise funds such as loaning tigers to other parks. But, he said, they escaped and attacked people. He argues that the lifting of the ban would not have such a negative impact if other measures were also taken.

\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"Lifting the ban provides a good outlet for the dead tiger bodies and generates more revenues for the parks, which will lead to better protection of the animals,\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" Liu said.

\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"We have done a lot of work to reintroduce the tigers to the wild. By cutting in-breeding and improving techniques, we have improved the ability and chances of survival for some tigers and we firmly believe that one day it will succeed,\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" he said.

\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"Thus the ban could be lifted with restrictions and precautions. For example, the tiger parts will only be sold to medicine companies that are registered and closely monitored.

\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"Meanwhile, if the government increases supervision and law enforcement on illegal poaching, lifting the ban won\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'t affect tigers in the wild.\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"

However, the statistics speak for themselves. The population of tigers in the wild was in free-fall up until the Chinese government implemented the ban on tiger trade in 1993. And still no captive-bred tiger has ever been successfully released into the wild, as Ge Rui points out.

\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"Captive-bred tigers have never been successfully released into the wild due to gene inefficiencies,\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" she said.

\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"The lifting of the ban will also soil the reputation of the TCM industry,\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" she added.

Zhang Wei, a professor at the Northeast Forestry University, disagrees on this point.

\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"Using the resource is not to destroy the tigers. Leaving them unused is no protection at all,\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" he said.

\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"The ban on tiger parts has wiped out production of all tiger-bone-based TCM in China, and hundreds of thousand-year-old TCM prescriptions have become waste papers,\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" he said.

Chinese tradition has it that every bit of a tiger has some medicinal use: tiger bones for treating rheumatism, tiger urine for treating eye infections.

Zhang said lifting the ban would give patients legal ways to obtain effective traditional Chinese medicine and more choices in treatments.

The government remains tight-lipped in the controversy, but sooner or later it is going to have to make a choice.

China is home to 5,000 captive-bred tigers. The government will need to take responsibility for them if the tiger parks like Harbin\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s go bankrupt. Either that or they can choose to take the easy way out and legalize the trade of tiger parts, critics said.

Ge Rui believes the government should make the ban permanent, halt the breeding of captive tigers and start phasing out the farms.

Tao Jin, an official with the Heilongjiang forestry department, said \\\\\\\\\\\\\\"We (the local tiger protection authority) have not received any word of lifting the ban from the central government so far, and the ban has not changed.\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"

Before the Chinese government utters any response, it seems the debate will continue to rage for a good while yet. [img]http://vccachat.org/forum/images/graemlins/default/cursing.gif[/img] [img]http://vccachat.org/forum/images/graemlins/default/cursing.gif[/img] [img]http://vccachat.org/forum/images/graemlins/default/cursing.gif[/img]

Don't know if you've seen this yet Kip.

China Pressed to Rein in Tiger Farms

June 13, 2007 - 2:17pm
By ARTHUR MAX
Associated Press Writer

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) - The body regulating wildlife trade told China on Wednesday it should stop breeding tigers for traditional medicine, but failed to reach an agreement on whether to loosen a global ban on ivory sales.

Conservationists hailed the tiger decision as a powerful message to dismantle farms in China, where nearly the same number of tigers are bred in captivity as the 5,500 remaining in the wild.

The debates on tigers and elephants have overshadowed a score of other issues at the two-week meeting of the 171-nation Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, or CITES, which regulates the trade in 35,000 kinds of plants and animals.

China shut down the domestic trade in tiger parts in 1993, imposing stiff sentences on offenders and ordering pharmacies to empty their shelves of tiger medications believed to cure ailments from convulsions to skin disease and to increase sexual potency.

The successful program helped stem a catastrophic wave of killing across Asia, where wild tigers face extinction, though poaching continues to feed a black market.

But China, now more sympathetic to private enterprise than 14 years ago, has come under intense pressure from influential businessmen to allow farm-bred tiger products back onto the market. The first tiger farms started before the ban, but others sprang up afterward because speculators thought it would be temporary.

Farm owners say legal products would help eliminate the illicit trade, and that revenues could go toward conservation projects. Environmentalists say it would stimulate smuggling.

"A legal market in China for products made from farmed tigers would increase demand and allow criminals to launder products made from tigers poached from the wild," said Steven Broad, head of the international monitoring group TRAFFIC.

Chinese delegate Wang Weisheng told the triennial CITES meeting that Beijing has no immediate plans to lift its ban, "unless it can be demonstrated to have a positive effect on conservation of wild tigers internationally."

During debate on a tiger statement, it became increasingly unambiguous as the United States and others introduced amendments sharpening the language.

"Parties with intensive operations breeding tigers on a commercial scale shall implement measures to restrict the captive population to a level supportive only to conserving tigers," said the key paragraph. "Tigers should not be bred for trade in their parts and derivatives."

It was supported by every country with wild tiger populations _ India, Bhutan, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Russia and Nepal.

"This is very gratifying because CITES is talking about not just international trade but domestic trade," said Susan Lieberman of the World Wildlife Fund for Nature. "This is a strong message that we hope China will take back."

While the conference rallied to defend the tiger, African nations squabbled over their elephant populations, and whether to ease the ban on the ivory trade.

After three weeks of private talks, a vote by a key CITES committee was postponed three times in the hope the Africans could reach a consensus.

"We still need time to come to a conclusive agreement," Zimbabwe Environment Minister Francis Nhema told the conference.

"We are in the right direction. We feel confident. We are almost there," he said after two days of nearly round-the-clock negotiations.

The arguments for and against selling legal ivory follow much the same lines as for the tiger trade. But unlike tigers, some African elephant populations have rebounded due to careful management by conservation agencies.

The southern African countries were pushing to reopen a window of trade that CITES closed in 1989 when it banned all international trade in ivory. If allowed to sell government stockpiles, they pledged to earmark revenues for conservation, arguing that sales would benefit wildlife and the people who live close to the animals.

Critics say softening the ban will encourage an already booming illegal ivory trade.

(Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
By ARTHUR MAX
Associated Press Writer

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) - The body regulating wildlife trade told China on Wednesday it should stop breeding tigers for traditional medicine, but failed to reach an agreement on whether to loosen a global ban on ivory sales.

Conservationists hailed the tiger decision as a powerful message to dismantle farms in China, where nearly the same number of tigers are bred in captivity as the 5,500 remaining in the wild.

The debates on tigers and elephants have overshadowed a score of other issues at the two-week meeting of the 171-nation Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, or CITES, which regulates the trade in 35,000 kinds of plants and animals.

China shut down the domestic trade in tiger parts in 1993, imposing stiff sentences on offenders and ordering pharmacies to empty their shelves of tiger medications believed to cure ailments from convulsions to skin disease and to increase sexual potency.

The successful program helped stem a catastrophic wave of killing across Asia, where wild tigers face extinction, though poaching continues to feed a black market.

But China, now more sympathetic to private enterprise than 14 years ago, has come under intense pressure from influential businessmen to allow farm-bred tiger products back onto the market. The first tiger farms started before the ban, but others sprang up afterward because speculators thought it would be temporary.

Farm owners say legal products would help eliminate the illicit trade, and that revenues could go toward conservation projects. Environmentalists say it would stimulate smuggling.

"A legal market in China for products made from farmed tigers would increase demand and allow criminals to launder products made from tigers poached from the wild," said Steven Broad, head of the international monitoring group TRAFFIC.

Chinese delegate Wang Weisheng told the triennial CITES meeting that Beijing has no immediate plans to lift its ban, "unless it can be demonstrated to have a positive effect on conservation of wild tigers internationally."

During debate on a tiger statement, it became increasingly unambiguous as the United States and others introduced amendments sharpening the language.

"Parties with intensive operations breeding tigers on a commercial scale shall implement measures to restrict the captive population to a level supportive only to conserving tigers," said the key paragraph. "Tigers should not be bred for trade in their parts and derivatives."

It was supported by every country with wild tiger populations _ India, Bhutan, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Russia and Nepal.

"This is very gratifying because CITES is talking about not just international trade but domestic trade," said Susan Lieberman of the World Wildlife Fund for Nature. "This is a strong message that we hope China will take back."

While the conference rallied to defend the tiger, African nations squabbled over their elephant populations, and whether to ease the ban on the ivory trade.