PM to ask China not to lift ban on dom tiger trade

New Delhi, June 2: International Tiger Coalition has written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to urge the Chinese government not to lift its 1993 ban on domestic trade in tiger parts.

On the eve of a conference of signatories to Convention on 'International Trade in Endangered Species' at The Hague from tomorrow, a coalition of 35 organisations from around the world including India, expressed deep concern for wild tigers in India arising from the possibility of China lifting its 1993 ban on domestic tiger trade due to pressure created by a handful of tiger farm investors.

In a letter to the Prime Minister it requested him to ''express gratitude to China's leaders for their successful 14-year tiger trade ban and to ask them to make it permanent.'' The entire international conservation community now looked to the Indian government to take a strong stance on behalf of tigers in the wild, the letter said.

''You (Prime Minister Manmohan Singh) would be able to convince China's President and Premier that their longstanding trade ban policy is best for wild tigers and China's image as a responsible global leader.'' When people around the world think of India, they think of tigers. Wild tigers were a flagship of nature's majesty for the entire world to be admired in nature rather than consumed as a health tonic, it said.

''We know you appreciate the fact that wild tigers in India are struggling for survival, with their numbers reportedly declining faster than feared. Reopening domestic trade in tiger parts in China will only compound the complications of tiger conservation by triggering a steep increase in poaching of wild tigers in India and other range countries.'' Captive tigers could never fulfill the surge in demand that would result, especially for buyers convinced that wild products had superior health effects. Furthermore, the economics of tiger trade make wild tigers far cheaper to obtain than tigers raised on farms, the letter said.

A reopening of tiger trade in China would pose the greatest threat India's tigers had ever faced. Tiger farm investors did not represent the views of China's leadership, the traditional Chinese medicine community or a majority of the Chinese public.

China banned trade in tiger bone medicines in 1993 because its domestic trade was undermining enforcement of the international prohibition on tiger trade. Since then, the traditional Chinese medicine community had embraced effective alternatives and now feared that any use of tiger bone would hurt the reputation of Chinese medicine as it strives for global acceptance.

The push to reopen tiger trade was driven by the commercial interests of a few wealthy Chinese investors. Research clearly showed that China's use of tiger bone medicines and tonics had been declining since 1993.

Tiger farm investors were hoping to recreate a market for tiger products and reap huge financial gains. This financial windfall for tiger farm investors would come at great cost to wild tiger populations in India and other tiger range countries.

India's remaining wild tigers already faced enough challenges without adding a rekindled demand for their bones among China's 1.3 billion consumers and users of Chinese medicine throughout the world.

Once converted into products, bones from wild and farmed tigers were virtually impossible to distinguish from one another.

Meanwhile, tiger poachers and smugglers would avail this opportunity to mix and mingle their wares into an enormous 'legal' market.

Law enforcement officials would be overwhelmed, especially at their current capacity. The attempt by special interests to reopen tiger trade in China was expected to come up for debate at the CITES meeting to be held from June 3-15 in The Hague. India would take part as one of 171 signatories.

It was of critical importance that India strongly and vocally opposed any proposals to weaken China's domestic ban, the letter argued.

However, good news was filtering through that China had decided to maintain its ban on trade in tiger parts, despite intense lobbying from tiger farm investors. A spokesperson for the Chinese government's State Forestry Administration made a statement to this effect on May 30.

Conservationists were still wary and awaited what China had to say in the CITES conference.

The Coalition of 35 organisations from across the world represented the environment, zoos, animal protection and traditional Chinese medicine communities united by their support for wild tigers and their habitats.

UNI

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