On the Brink of Extinction: Call to Close Cruel and Inhumane Tiger Farms
Officials from 13 nations are meeting to discuss conservation efforts to save the endangered tiger. Officials from countries where tigers still roam – Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Russia, Thailand and Vietnam - are taking part in the Asia Ministerial Conference (AMC) on Tiger Conservation. The conference runs from January 27 to January 30, 2010, in Thailand.
The World Bank and Global Tiger Initiative are urging the closing of tiger farms. Tiger farms, located primarily in China, also exist in other parts of the world. Despite a 1993 ban on the domestic tiger trade in China, the demand for tiger parts is still high and tiger farms continue to thrive. The domestic tiger trade harvests skin, bones, organs and other body parts often used in traditional medicines or as aphrodisiacs.
Private tiger farm investors have been putting heavy pressure on the government to lift the ban. While farm owners claim that tiger farms help reduce the illegal trade of tiger parts, others disagree. Many believe that tiger farms are not only cruel and inhumane, but actually encourage the illegal trade. Despite the plea from tiger farm investors, China recently announced the country will ensure stricter regulation and monitoring of the captive breeding farms and stricter enforcement on the illegal trade.
Listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List, tigers, Panthera tigris, are the largest of all cats. Sadly, three subspecies have become extinct – the Bali, the Caspian and Javan. At the beginning of the 20th century, it is estimated 100,000 wild tigers existed. Sadly, the numbers have dropped dramatically due to poaching and loss of habitat. According to the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), it is estimated that as few as 3,200 tigers exist in the wild today. It is believed that more than 5,000 tigers are living in captivity in farms in China. In other words, it is estimated that more tigers live in captivity on tiger farms in China than exist in the wild.
Warning: Disturbing Video:
While the Year of the Tiger begins on February 14th, we must work quickly to save these magnificent creatures from extinction.
Photo by B Cool
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Let’s hope it does some good but I’d be very (but pleasantly) surprised if China realised that Tiger farming is wrong… and more importantly that Tiger consumption is wrong…
To think if just a few more Chinese men knew about Viagra, Tigers wouldn’t be likely to be extinct in the next few years…
I hate china sooo much for starting this,how can people be so CRUEL to these amazing animals?!?!,it really makes me mad,and very sad..
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People in Asia have got to be told that there’s no magic in the bones, livers, skin, horns, fins or shells of endangered animals. “Traditional medicine” or not, this witchcraft is driving too many species to extinction.
The only reason we still have tigers in the wild is due to the Chinese tiger farms.
The initiative to close the farms is short sighted and will only increase the pressure on wild tigers.
This campaign is just another veiled racist beat-up on the Chinese.
You’re not going to stem the demand for tiger bone any time soon and those that say that tiger farms encourage the decimation of wild tigers lie and ignore the economics.
Who will go to the expense of buying a poached wild tiger when cheaper and legal supplies are available?
Stop selling us animal protest industry campaigns dressed up as bogus environmentalism.
John,
The tigers that live in tiger farms, live a horrible and very sad life. Tiger farms will not help save the tiger – in fact, the exact opposite is true.
It saddens me your comments in various articles on this site regarding the cruel treatment of animals are filled with information not based on fact. Tigers are an endangered species and unless we act rapidly, they may soon become extinct. Do your research.
I agree with Janet. We must preserve habitat for tigers and allow them to live as wild animals. They deserve to live their life on earth as they were designed to live.
Just Google “Tiger Pets US”. 10,000 to 15,000 tigers are kept in backyards across the US. Some of the conditions are appalling as they are kept in small enclosures with up to 2 feet of urine and excrement collected over years. The cruelty does not end there: owners discuss methods to agitate their pets to make them more aggressive and then pit them against other beasts in deathmatches to find the ultimate predator.