Spotlight

Potential Impact of Lifting of Domestic Ban on Tiger Trade

Historically, China has been the home to five sub-species of tiger in the past:

• the South China Tiger (Panthera tigris amoyensis), endemic to China, distributed in the subtropical mountainous regions of the southern and central parts of the country;
• the Amur Tiger (Panthera tigris altaica), in the north-east of the country;
• the Bengal Tiger (Panthera tigris tigris), in south-eastern Tibet and northern Yunnan;
• the Indochinese Tiger (Panthera tigris corbetti), in Xishuangbanna and south-west China;
• the Lop Nur/Caspian Tiger (Panthera tigris virgata), from Xinjiang province.

The Lop Nur/Caspian Tiger was the first to become extinct from China in 1920s. While there were 4000 South China tigers in 1986 (Lu and Sheng, 1986) there are hardly any left today in the wild. It is accepted that the South China Tiger is functionally extinct since there are no viable and breeding populations. The same is the case with the Bengal and Indochinese tigers and there is no evidence of China having a breeding population of these two sub-species. China holds a small population of the Amur Tigers which probably survive due to their connectivity with larger tiger populations in Russia.

Use of Tiger and its derivatives
Traditionally, tiger bone in dried, fried and powdered and mixed with other ingredients in the Chinese Medicines. Other organs of tiger such as claws, blood etc. are also utilized for various supposed medicinal uses. Skins have been used in the Tibetan region as robes traditionally known as “Chuba”.

Tiger Farming in China
Tiger farming in China is supported by Article 17 of the Wildlife Protection Law, 1988 which says that “the state shall encourage the domestication and breeding of wildlife”. At present, out of the over 4000 tigers present in tiger farms (Govt. of China, 2006), the major population of tigers exist in two tiger farms nearing 1000 individuals each at Hengdao river and Xiongsen Bear and Tiger Mountain Village in Guilin. About 1000 tigers are in 10-20 large farms, while the remaining captive population of 1000 tigers is housed in 200 facilities.

Even though trade in tiger parts and derivatives is banned as on today, the tiger farms are getting huge amounts of funding for captive breeding programmes for restocking tigers in the wild. For instance, the Xiongsen Bear and Tiger Mountain village in Guilin has been declared as an official center for captive breeding for reintroduction and has secured funding of US $ 9,30,000 for this purpose. The other source of revenue is recreation and the tiger farms attract large number of visitors.
The tiger carcasses are being refrigerated at present in the hope that one day the domestic ban will be lifted and these could be legally sold. Reports suggest that tiger parts from these farms are already finding their way illegally into the market.

Lifting the ban: What do proponents suggest?
• use of tiger parts is essential in traditional Chinese medicine
• Once market will be opened for tiger trade, demand will go down (help cause of conservation)
• If there is abundant supply of tiger parts, prices will go down
• Tiger trade will enhance local livelihoods
• Population from tiger farms will be used for restocking wild populations
• Effective enforcement will ensure that wild tigers do not enter tiger product market in China

However, the actual position on the above mentioned suggestions is as under:

(a) Use of tiger parts is essential in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM)
As per leading global practitioners of TCM, the use of tiger parts is not essential. Moreover, there are plentiful substitutes available including artificial substitutes. Leaders in the TCM industry do not want to use tiger derivatives as they feel that this will tarnish the image of TCM as an alternative to modern medicine.

(b) Once market will be opened for tiger trade, demand will go down
It is being advocated that opening of markets for tiger trade will actually help in conservation as the demand for illegal tiger parts and derivatives will go down. The fact is that at present, due to tiger derivatives not being freely available, a lot of people do not have access to this. However, legalizing tiger trade will only create a surge in the demand for tiger produce with a large number of new consumers added to the existing ones, which will increase the overall volume of trade. This will lead to serious enforcement issues and will pose a huge threat to the tigers in India and other tiger range countries.

Given the high costs involved in rearing tigers in captivity it will always be cheaper to poach tigers from the wild. There would always be a preference for the “wild” tiger than the “farmed” cousin, as wild derivatives are considered to be more potent as in the case of herbal medicines.

(c) If there is an abundant supply, the prices will go down
This logic does not hold good because of the very simple reason of the costs being involved in raising the tigers which would remain same irrespective of the market. The cost of raising a tiger in captivity is very high and it would still be very lucrative to get wild tigers at far cheaper price.

(d) Tiger trade will enhance local livelihood
This assumption is not correct as the only class of people who would benefit out of the tiger trade are already rich tiger farmers, pharmaceutical industry and the illegal wildlife trade mafia. The local people of China will not be benefited in any way.

The lifting of domestic ban on tiger trade in China will greatly impact local livelihood in India, as a substantial population’s economy is ameliorated by tourism in areas that support tiger. Any decline in tiger numbers due to lifting of this ban will have long term impact on the local economy around tiger bearing areas in India.

(e) Populations from tiger farms will be used for restocking wild populations
In the wild, tigers are free ranging animals with a range of tens of square kilometers for each individual. Cubs grow up with their mother and in this process, learn the skills of hunting. This cannot be replicated under farmed conditions.

Tigers are not poultry, they are not horses. If raised together in large numbers, they will still survive, but they can never cater to restock wild populations and will be absolute misfits.

It is evident that the tigers being raised in farms are purely for commercial interests and have no conservation significance.

(f) Effective enforcement will ensure that wild tigers do not enter the market
Protection of tiger in the wild already is a daunting task in the present times. The lifting of domestic ban will further compound enforcement problems not only in India, but in all countries having tiger populations in the wild. Furthermore, it will be very difficult to determine the source of a tiger once it has been converted into a product, such as medicine or wine.

Lifting the ban on internal trade in China would mean undoing the good work in tiger conservation done so far in India. In effect, it would mean sounding the death knell for the tigers.

Need for conservation
Tiger is our national animal and also a symbol of pride for every Indian. Tigers inhabit forest areas which provide invaluable ecological services. Extinction of tigers would adversely affect our forests.

India has been a strong supporter of CITES. It is hoped that with the kind of commitment that India has towards tiger conservation, the Government of India will take up the matter in a strong way with the Chinese Government and also express its strong stand on the matter in the upcoming conference of parties of the CITES scheduled next month.