RxPG News XML Feed for RxPG News   Add RxPG News Headlines to My Yahoo!  

Medical Research Health Special Topics World
 
  Home
 
 Careers 
 Dental
 Medical
 Nursing
 
 Latest Research 
 Aging
 Anaethesia
 Biochemistry
 Biotechnology
 Cancer
 Cardiology
 Clinical Trials
 Cytology
 Dental
 Dermatology
 Embryology
 Endocrinology
 ENT
 Environment
 Gastroenterology
 Genetics
 Gynaecology
 Haematology
 Immunology
 Infectious Diseases
 Metabolism
 Microbiology
 Musculoskeletal
 Nephrology
 Neurosciences
 Obstetrics
 Ophthalmology
 Orthopedics
 Paediatrics
 Pathology
 Pharmacology
 Physiology
 Psychiatry
 Public Health
 Radiology
 Rheumatology
 Surgery
 Urology
 Alternative Medicine
 Medicine
 Epidemiology
 Sports Medicine
 Toxicology
 
 Medical News 
 Awards & Prizes
 Epidemics
 Health
 Healthcare
 Launch
 Opinion
 Professionals
 
 Special Topics 
 Ethics
 Euthanasia
 Evolution
 Feature
 Odd Medical News
 Climate
 
 DocIndia 
 Reservation Issue
 Overseas Indian Doctor

Last Updated: May 20, 2007 - 10:48:48 AM
News Report
Nepal Channel

subscribe to Nepal newsletter
Nepal

   EMAIL   |   PRINT
Tiger in peril - as China's tiger farm lobby wants sale ban lifted
Apr 23, 2007 - 8:44:43 AM
'If China lifts the ban on tiger trade, Nepal and India's wildlife will be endangered,' says Lieberman.

Article options
 Email to a Friend
 Printer friendly version
 Nepal channel RSS
 More Nepal news
[RxPG] Kathmandu, April 23 - India and Nepal are likely to be great jeopardy with the news that China's powerful tiger farm lobby is stepping up pressure on the government to lift its 14-year-old ban on the sale of tiger parts, wildlife experts have warned.

'Fifty years ago, China had the highest number of wild tigers,' says Susan Lieberman, director of WWF International's Global Species Programme. 'Today, the number has come down to about 20, which are increasingly moving towards the Russian forests in search of safety.'

Traditionally, China has been the biggest consumer of tiger bones, hunting down the big cats for their bones, which the Chinese believe have medicinal qualities.

Though the Chinese government banned the trade in tiger parts in 1993, wildlife experts say new illegal markets are opening in the communist republic with restaurants, boutiques and gift shops advertising tiger meat dishes, fur robes and even wines said to have been made by dipping tiger carcasses in rice wine.

In a bid to circumvent the ban, individuals with and without government funding began establishing tiger farms in China. Some tiger products available in China claim they used tigers that died of natural causes in the farms. Currently, over 100 tiger farms, which have nearly 5,000 captive tigers, have begun pressuring the government afresh to lift the ban.

This month, the Global Tiger Forum, an inter-government group comprising countries with tiger populations, met in Kathmandu to plan its strategies where an official from the Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China began lobbying for lifting the ban.

'There is considerable need for tiger bone to cure diseases like rheumatic arthritis,' says Jia Qian, the official. 'Legalisation of the use of farmed tiger bone may meet the market demand and significantly reduce illegal trade by cutting down its price.'

However, 30 organisations around the world, which have united under the International Tiger Coalition to oppose the lobbying, say tiger farming will boost poaching of the big cats since many consumers think the wild tiger's potency can't be found in the tame ones.

Between 1999 and 2005, nearly 650 kg of tiger and leopard bones were seized from China, India and Nepal.

Since both India and Nepal are not traditional consumers of tiger or leopard bone or skin, it is assumed that the caches were intended for China. This month, the smuggling of precious red sandalwood from India to China via Nepal exposed the existence of a well-organised international smuggling network with the security and customs officials of all three countries on its payroll.

'If China lifts the ban on tiger trade, Nepal and India's wildlife will be endangered,' says Lieberman.

'Instead of lifting the ban, the law enforcement agencies of countries sharing a border need to collaborate and share information to curb smuggling.'





Related Nepal News
Nepal deity 'sweats' -- bad times ahead?
Two years after tobacco ban, Bhutan still awaits law
Jimmy Carter to discuss polls with Nepal PM
UN top refugee envoy to visit Nepal
Bangladesh censors Nepal magazine
Bhutanese refugees brace for Indian crackdown
Nepal gays ask UN to save arrested peers in Iran
US home offer sparks tension in Bhutanese refugee camps
World Bank warns Nepal over engineer's murder
Three Asian climbers die on Everest

Subscribe to Nepal Newsletter
E-mail Address:

 Feedback
For any corrections of factual information, to contact the editors or to send any medical news or health news press releases, use feedback form

Top of Page

 
© All rights reserved 2004 onwards by RxPG Medical Solutions Private Limited
Contact Us