Tiger at the centre

After CITES imposed this ban in 1993, China shut down the domestic trade in tiger parts in 1993, ordering pharmacies to empty their shelves of tiger medications believed to cure ailments from convulsions to skin disease and to increase potency. Conservationists believe that this helped save the tiger population from a complete wipe-out of wild tigers, though poaching still feeds the black market.

China has now come under intense pressure from influential businessmen to allow farm-bred products back on to the market. The logic: Legal products would help eliminate the illicit trade, and revenues could go towards conservation projects.

• What was China’s stand this year?

Despite the ban and a massive decline in the consumer market, China’s tiger farms have continued breeding tigers. They submitted a document this year to the CITES secretariat and said that the country “intends” to resume “use of captive bred tigers” in the future. Furthermore, the document states that China’s captive tiger population of 5,000 is growing at a rate of at least 800 animals per year and “constitutes a steady foundation for a future potential reopen(ing) of utilisation of tiger bones and fur.” It also stated that the government of China would conduct research on the possibility of re-opening trade.

However, the signals were not very clear: Chinese officials have been making statements that the government remains committed to its tiger trade ban in spite of intense pressure from tiger farm investors to lift the ban.

• What do conservationists fear?

Facing opposition, China withdrew proposals to reopen tiger trade at previous CITES CoPs. According to International Tiger Coalition, there were hundreds of tigers on farms. Today there are 5,000 “with a capacity to reproduce 800-1,000 cubs annually”. If China does not act now, by the next CITES meeting, there may be more than 7,000 tigers on farms and even more pressure to reopen trade.

They ask for a complete rejection of petitions from tiger farm investors to reopen trade, phasing out tiger farms and destroying stockpiles of tiger parts and products.

• What was the official stand of the Indian government?

Facing a number of challenges on the tiger front, the Indian delegation adopted a strong stance: “promoting farming to satiate the demands of oriental medicine would lead to laundering of wild specimens”. The Project Tiger director also explained to the secretariat that they were opposed to farming as tigers are easy to breed in captivity but not easy to release in the wild. A Chinese delegation had come to India a month ago to gauge India’s reaction to their farming plan. There is also a group led by Barun Mitra of Liberty Institute that has been advocating the Chinese model of “selling the tiger to save it.” For now, there are few buyers of this theory.

• What was the stand of other countries at the CITES final voting and discussion?

China pushed for the ban to be applicable to “international trade”. On captive breeding, the US proposed amending the draft decision limiting it to “intensive” captive breeding operations and specifying that tigers should not be bred for trade in their parts and derivatives. The EU proposed addressing the decision to “range states” instead of “parties,” opposed by the Russia, India, Nepal and Thailand. The committee approved the US-proposed amendments on captive breeding, but dismissed those proposed by the EU and China following a vote.

• Why is India relieved now?

India feels that they managed to bring China around. This was the operative part of the text of the resolution that China signed on: “Parties with intensive operations breeding tigers on a commercial scale shall implement measures to restrict the captive population to a level supportive only to conserving tigers… Tigers should not be bred for trade in their parts and derivatives.” It was supported by every country with wild tiger populations — India, Bhutan, Cambodia, Indonesia, Russia and Nepal.

• What does the future of tiger conservation look like?

This meeting has closed a chapter on trade in tiger parts in China — both domestic and internationally. Now the question is, what does China do with its 5000 farm-bred tigers? On the other hand, India too needs to beef up its conservation efforts to actually show that China’s model was flawed.