Nov 10 2010
The Tiger Trade
In a disturbing article, the BBC reports that the tiger trade has been responsible for more than a thousand tiger deaths over the last decade. Tigers are listed as endangered with extinction, with only around 3 thousand animals thought to exist in the wild. Therefore the illegal tiger trade represents a significant portion of the wild tiger population.
The report also indicates that the black market in illegal animal parts is the third largest black market in the world, after drugs and weapons, and is estimated at about 10 billion dollars a year. What the report fails to mention, however, is what is chiefly driving this illegal trade – traditional medicine. Tiger bones have been a part of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) for centuries, used in many potions. The Chinese TCM market remains the greatest demand for tiger parts.
However, in 1993 the Chinese government banned the use of tiger bones and removed them from the list of approved medicines – which I guess means that prior to 1993 they were actually approved. Many TCM leaders have supported the ban. This has not changed the fact, though, that there are still many TCM practitioners who use tiger bones – hence the thriving black market in tiger parts.
The TCM demand for rare animal parts is not limited to tigers. Rhino horn is also a valued ingredient, used to treat just abut anything. Bear bile is another example – apparently the bears are kept in cages with catheters in their gall bladders.
There are many reasons why animals are threatened by human activity. Loss of habitat is the primary reason, but overhunting is another. In some cases there are real dilemmas between the needs of traditional people and wildlife preservation – such as those local populations that rely upon whale hunting. In my opinion, even in such situations efforts should be made to wean these populations off of reliance upon hunting endangered species.
In the case of TCM, however, there is no dilemma. A pseudoscientific and superstitious tradition that should be relegated to the history books anyway is also creating demand for the illegal trade in the parts of endangered animals. There should be a worldwide outcry to end these practices entirely. TCM is not only bad for tigers, rhinos, and bears – it’s bad for people, too.
11 Responses to “The Tiger Trade”
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Of course, sprinkling a little Viagra on the rhino horn or tiger penis goes a long way to help promote the quackery.
WWF have a petition to sign which they’ll be taking to St Petersburg in 10 days.
http://wwf.org.uk/how_you_can_help/donate_now/save_the_tiger/
(It says donate in the URL, but you don’t have to. Though, if you can afford to that would also be great!)
Very sad indeed. And yet another great example of “what’s the harm”.
Well my initial reaction is the self satisfaction of another example of CAM harm, and BS. I will point out that this is relatively informative but little more than back patting. I am not aware that you have a large eastern following of your blog site. If you do Bully for you.
http://hellsnewsstand.blogspot.com/2009/04/new-poster-from-insitute-for_18.html
locutusbrg,
What about the collateral damage?
Ironically, in the very post above yours there is an appeal to sign a petition to save the tiger and donate to the cause.
And we all talk and pass on the news to those we meet and they to those they meet and so on and so on…
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CrookedTimber,
I thyink you meant “And yet another great counter-example of “what’s the harm”.
Do you guys get to see many of the UK BBC documentaries? They’ve just shown a 3 part series called ‘Lost Land of the Tiger’ and it was really good. Worth trying to track down if you can find it on a network there.
It follows on from ‘Lost Land of the Jaguar’ and ‘Lost Land of the Volcano and they’ve all been great. They’re a different take on the ‘Attenborough’ style shows, and they follow the exploits of scientists that fly into a region to document unexplored areas to get an idea of how diverse and rich the wildlife is there.
In this case they go into Bhutan – the last country in the world not to have had a significant Tiger study carried out – with a view to getting a bigger idea of the world Tiger population and to move on efforts to conserve the species.
Steve, I echo your comments. We really should be doing more to protect all animals. In the case of the Tiger, it’s saddening to see the devastating impact we’ve had on one of the most beautiful animals on Earth. It’s a crying shame to think that unless more is done, animals like this will no longer be roaming around in the wild. I dread the thought.
locutusbrg,
It’s informative, interesting and a worthwhile topic for Steve to blog about. A lot of people read this blog, and if only a small percentage of those readers raise some awareness about this issue, it’s helpful. I often share interesting blog posts like these on Facebook, and almost all of my friends have no skeptical outlook when it comes to these matters, so posts like this can help to teach people despite the recent criticism aimed at the ‘skeptic movement’.
And if only a very small handful of people learn and become inspired enough to get actively involved in changing things, blog posts like these (that seem to be called ‘back patting’ by some) are significantly more important than is immediately obvious.
It is DISTURBINGLY EASY to buy this crap!!!
Took me ten seconds to find:
http://compare.ebay.com/like/290481509851?ltyp=AllFixedPriceItemTypes&var=sbar&rvr_id=166645611660&crlp=1_263602_304662&UA=WXF%3F&GUID=1f68b3081270a0e20295e6e5fd5fce38&itemid=290481509851&ff4=263602_304662
I’m gonna go see how you complain to ebay.
Some enterprising scammer needs to “prove” that cow bones are actually MORE effective than tiger bones at making Woo Potions. Said scammer makes millions marking up worthless cow bones as magical remedies, superstitious idiots get their magical potions, and the tigers get left alone.
Also ripe for “proving”: pig ears make better soup than shark fins; goat testicles are better cures for impotence than rhinoceros horns, and a little distilled water soaking with a magic crystal is better for… well… WHATEVER than bear bile.
In addition to reducing demand for endangered animal products, we all get to laugh as the credulous eat pig ears and goat nuts and bask in the magic of the placebo effect.
I was going to suggest that somebody just get into the business of ginning up fake tiger bones, but I like saburai’s suggestion even better.