New Chinese proposals to open trade in captive-bred tiger parts has raised renewed concerns over the future of the tiger.

Tiger breeding in China was a lucrative business until the country banned the trade in tiger parts in 1993, leading to conversion of tiger farms to wildlife entertainment parks.

With an entry fee of $12, this is not like a zoo in the western world with tigers living in an appropriately created habitat. These parks are more like ‘tiger circus’ wherein they are made to jump through hoops, balance on balls or hunt a prey to appease a large audience.

However, tiger farms enhance their income with products such as ‘bone strengthening’ wine which costs about $130 and is made from the powdered bones of dead tigers from the farms. This kind of tiger product has been overlooked by the Chinese government.

Unsurprisingly, the call to open tiger trading has been backed by the tiger farm owners with claims of supplying the tiger parts market and helping to curb poaching.

Terry Anderson of Property and Environment Research Centre, a NGO that looks at market-based approaches to conservation said: “Regulated tiger farms could provide enough tiger products to reduce the pressure on wild tigers from poaching.”

“Tiger farms will help reduce the demand for wild tigers if the market is well-regulated. It would be wrong to say that by eliminating the market we eliminate the demand for tigers.”

However, John Sellar, chief enforcement officer for CITES, believes that opening the trade will undermine tiger conservation efforts.

Leading tiger conservation agencies including WWF, CITES and EIA believe that enforcing stricter laws is the key to curb poaching. Debbie Banks, Environment Investigation Agency (EIA) said: “It isn’t the ban that hasn’t worked, but those enforcing it haven’t done all that can be done to make it work.”

When China reviews its stand on the trade in tiger parts, it has to do so keeping the fate of wild tigers in mind.

ADOPT A TIGER WITH WWF