Reuters AlertNet Lite - Wildlife groups urge China to keep tiger trade ban

Reuters AlertNet Full site

NEWSDESK

Wildlife groups urge China to keep tiger trade ban

13 Mar 2007 00:01:07 GMT
Source: Reuters

GENEVA, March 13 (Reuters) - Any easing of China's ban on selling tiger hides and bones could be catastrophic to efforts to save the endangered wild cat, leading conservation groups said on Tuesday.

TRAFFIC, a wildlife monitoring project of the Swiss-based WWF and World Conservation Union, said it was concerned Chinese officials would succumb to pressure from businessmen seeking to revive commerce in tiger parts.

China's ban, introduced in 1993, has virtually eliminated the market for traditional medicines made from tigers in what was once the world's largest consumer of such goods.

Environmentalists believe there are only 5,000 to 7,000 tigers remaining in the wild, with the largest number in India.

But in China, investors in "tiger farms" -- housing an estimated 4,000 tigers bred in captivity -- have been lobbying authorities to legalise trade from such facilities.

TRAFFIC Executive Director Steven Broad said lifting the ban, or amending it to allow sales of parts of tigers bred in captivity, would threaten years of work to protect the animal.

"It would be a catastrophe for tiger conservation," he said.

The WWF said any renewed tiger-part trading would create incentives for wild-animal poachers.

"A legal market in China could give poachers across Asia an avenue for 'laundering' tigers killed in the wild, especially as farmed and wild tiger products are indistinguishable in the marketplace," said Susan Lieberman, director of the WWF's Global Species Programme.

The conservation groups urged China to retain its ban and strengthen efforts to stop illegal trade in tiger and leopard skin garments, widely considered a status symbol in Tibet.

A moratorium on tiger breeding and a commitment to destroy all existing tiger carcasses could also help, they said.

AlertNet news is provided by

Email this article Send comments

Topics

• Technology

MORE >>

Countries

Small country map
© 2004 Europa Technologies Ltd.

Reset map

• China profile
· View map

• India profile
· View map

MORE >>

NGO latest

• New for 2007
World Response - UK

• Christiane Augsburger elected to ICRC
ICRC - Switzerland

• ACT Dateline, India: Gender justice
ACT - Switzerland

• The Road Less Travelled
GOAL - Ireland

• Houses successfully built for tsunami victims in India
SOS-Kinderdorf International

MORE >>

Latest news

• Wildlife groups urge China to keep tiger trade ban

• Malaria-curing herb must be carefully farmed - WHO

• FACTBOX-Key facts about diabetes

• FEATURE-Diabetes: a growing problem in newly rich Asia

• Waterbirds threatened, need better "flyways" - study

MORE >>

Last updated:Tue Mar 13 00:02:44 2007