I am thrilled to introduce today our new wildlife and environmental issues contributor at DavidMixner.com. Brian Gratwicke, who is originally from Zimbabwe and now resides in Washington, DC, will occasionally blog on endangered species, wildlife and conservation. He is a brilliant young man and a Rhodes Scholar, and I couldn’t be happier that he will be our first regular contributor to the blog, especially given my lifelong passion for wildlife and the environment.

Eat Tigers to Save Them?
By Brian Gratwicke, DavidMixner.com contributor

In August 2006, after Barun Mitra, a libertarian economist and self-proclaimed tiger expert returned from an all-expenses paid trip to visit tiger farms in China. He wrote an op-ed in The New York Times trumpeting his free-market solution to tiger conservation. He says we have to farm tigers like pigs and chickens in order to save them. The Chinese Government, who sponsored the trip, was delighted with this endorsement which justifies their own plans to legalize the trade in tiger parts.

China has 4,000 captive tigers on tiger farms, and the farm owners make their money by letting tourists throw live chickens into their enclosures and watching them being gobbled up alive. However, the farmers know that this is just “chicken change” and that the real money lies in the traditional medicine markets. Before China’s 1993 ban on trade in tiger parts, 200 manufacturers made 2,000 to 3,000 kilos of tiger bone into millions of pills, plasters and tonic wines annually to sell to consumers for soothing aching joints and broken bones. Tiger farmers have been banking on the ban being dropped, which is why they have stockpiled hundreds of tiger carcasses in freezers, waiting patiently for the day when they could reap a huge return on their investment. But, refrigeration is expensive and the farmers are becoming impatient so they are turning up the heat on their lobbying of Chinese authorities.

Many people have quietly wondered if Mr. Mitra is right – surely flooding the market with farmed tiger bits would reduce the illegal poaching of wild tigers? After all, wild tigers are endangered, but captive tigers are not. The answer is that there is a lot of uncertainty about this. Legalizing the trade would offer a huge opportunity to launder wild tiger parts, which are cheaper to obtain than farmed ones. It would also lead to the growth of markets that have significantly been reduced by the 1993 trade ban. A new TRAFFIC investigation found that measures to implement and enforce the Chinese trade ban have worked - less than 3 per cent of 663 medicine shops and dealers investigated claimed to stock tiger bone, and most retailers were aware that tigers are legally protected.

The issue was also raised at a recent congressional hearing as reported by Greenwire on March 16th:

"The farms are established under the cover of zoos and exhibits, but are stockpiling tigers with the idea of trade when the ban is lifted," WWF's Sybille Klenzendorf told the House Resources Committee yesterday. If China allows trade from such operations, it would effectively also open the market for products from wild tigers, Klenzendorf said. Poachers could obtain parts from wild tigers for cheaper than it would cost to raise them in captivity. Members of the panel agreed the ban on tiger trade is crucial and urged the Bush administration to pressure China to keep the ban in place. "I am not proposing we dictate anything to the Chinese government, but what can we do to encourage the opposite conclusion than to lift the ban?" Rep. Neil Abercrombie (D-Hawaii) asked. The Fish and Wildlife Service's deputy director, Kenneth Stansell, said international negotiators would discuss the issue at a meeting in June of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species. "This has been a concern for quite some time," Stansell said.

The issue has also prompted outrage from a coalition of more than 20 international conservation organizations led by Save the Tiger Fund’s Campaign against Tiger Trafficking (CATT). They are strongly supportive of the TRAFFIC report’s conclusions recommending that China: Maintain its total ban on tiger trade. Step up law enforcement efforts to stop the tiger skin trade. Reject petitions to allow any trade in tiger products from any source. Establish a moratorium on tiger breeding. Destroy all stocks of tiger carcasses and parts. Support tiger conservation by protecting wild tigers and their habitat. Issue a "clear public statement" that consumption of tiger products is forbidden.

LINKS:
Tiger Farm Video
TRAFFIC Report
Campaign Against Tiger Trafficking