IUCN / SSC Cat Specialist Group - Digital Cat Library |
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| Nowell, K. | |
| Tiger farms and pharmacies: the central importance of China's trade policy for tiger conservation | |
| 2010 Book Chapter | |
China , with its massive population and rapidly developing economy, holds the key to the tiger's future. Twenty years ago, Chinese consumption of tiger bone medicines was driving the world's wild tigers toward extinction. The government of China had two contradictory responses to the crisis. One was to enact a strict domestic trade ban policy and promote the use of non-threatened medicinal substitutes for tiger bone. The other was to condone intensive breeding of tigers by operations that aim to supply markets for tiger products. The trade ban appears to have greatly reduced medicinal use of tiger bone in China, and for a number of key tiger populations poaching has correspondingly declined [1, 2] . However, people who would profit from tiger farming are pressuring the government to allow them to sell products derived from their captive tigers, arguing that satisfying Chinese demand with an alternative source of supply would alleviate poaching pressure on wild tigers more effectively than banning trade. Yet it is evident that decades of an abundant supply of fake tiger products, typically indistinguishable from genuine tiger, have not solved the poaching problem. Rather, the alternative supply has perpetuated consumer markets in China and contributed to continued poaching pressure. Legalizing tiger trade again in China would pose unacceptable risks to wild tigers, and threaten the hard-won conservation gains of the last two decades in China and other range states. China should exercise international leadership by strengthening its trade ban and ending tiger farming. |
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