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TAMING THE TIGER TRADE CHINA’S MARKETS FOR WILD AND CAPTIVE TIGER PRODUCTS SINCE THE 1993 DOMESTIC TRADE BAN KRISTIN NOWELL AND XU LING A TRAFFIC EAST ASIA REPORT TRAFFIC, the wildlife trade monitoring network, works to ensure that trade in wild plants and animals is not a threat to the conservation of nature. It has offices covering most parts of the world and works in close co-operation with the Secretariat of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). For further information contact: TRAFFIC East Asia Room 2001 Double Building 22 Stanley Street Central Hong Kong Telephone: (852) 2 530 0587 Fax: (852) 2 530 0864 Email: [email protected] This report was produced with the kind support of is a joint programme of March 2007 Published by TRAFFIC East Asia Hong Kong, China © 2007 TRAFFIC East Asia All rights reserved. All material appearing in this publication is copyrighted and may be produced with permission. Any reproduction in full or in part of this publication must credit TRAFFIC East Asia as the copyright owner. The views of the authors expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect those of the TRAFFIC network, WWF or IUCN. The designations of geographical entities in this publication, and the presentation of the material, do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of TRAFFIC or its supporting organizations concerning the legal status of any country, territory, or area, or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. The TRAFFIC symbol copyright and Registered Trademark ownership is held by WWF. TRAFFIC is a joint programme of WWF and IUCN. Suggested citation: Nowell, K. and Xu, Ling. (2007). Taming the tiger trade: China’s markets for wild and captive tiger products since the 1993 domestic trade ban. TRAFFIC East Asia. ISBN: 978 1 85850 228 4 Front cover photographs: Tiger Panthera tigris and (inset) performing Tigers at the Xiongsen Bear and Tiger Mountain Village. Photograph credits: WWF-Canon/Martin Harvey and (inset) Tom Milliken/TRAFFIC. Printed on recycled paper. TAMING THE TIGER TRADE CHINA’S MARKETS FOR WILD AND CAPTIVE TIGER PRODUCTS SINCE THE 1993 DOMESTIC TRADE BAN by Kristin Nowell and Xu Ling : Kirsten Conrad Credit Visitors view Tigers at Harbin Tiger park, China 1999 ii TAMING THE TIGER TRADE: China’s markets for wild and captive tiger products since the 1993 domestic trade ban CONTENTS Acknowledgements iv Executive summary v Introduction China’s Tiger trade and wild populations 2 China’s Tiger trade and captive populations 6 Methods 10 TRAFFIC surveys: results and discussion 13 Tiger bone: Chinese medicine markets 13 Retail Chinese medicine shops 13 Wholesale markets 17 Chinese medicine markets over time 20 Tiger skins: the clothing trade in Tibet 23 Understanding the consumer market 23 Retail markets for Tiger and Leopard skin clothing 26 Tiger tonics: Tiger bone wine 29 Literature review: results and discussion 36 Dining on Tiger: Tiger meat 36 Tiger smuggling: a review of seizures 38 Tiger policy: using TRAFFIC surveys and other scientific research to examine the arguments for legalizing domestic trade in captive-bred Tiger medicines 42 Have current national and international trade bans failed to conserve Tigers? 42 Would a legal supply of captive-bred Tiger medicines replace illegal supplies? 44 Are Tiger medicines essential for public health in China? 45 Are large captive Tiger populations important for Tiger conservation in China? 45 Conclusions 48 Recommendations 50 References 51 Appendix 1. The value of medicinal use of Tiger bone and an evaluation of the prospect of raising Tigers by Sheng Helin 61 TAMING THE TIGER TRADE: China’s markets for wild and captive tiger products since the 1993 domestic trade ban iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS We thank our colleagues at the TRAFFIC China Programme office in Beijing for their input and support: Xu Hongfa, Caroline Liou, Liu Xueyan, Chen Yi, Wang Shasha and Yang Qin. Craig Kirkpatrick and Sean Lam at TRAFFIC’s regional office in Hong Kong were also supportive throughout the research and report-writing phase. Dawa Tsering and Kelsang Norbu from the WWF China office in Lhasa are thanked for contributing analysis and data. TRAFFIC’s Joyce Wu and Tom Milliken also contributed information for this report. We thank the Government of China, State Forestry Administration (the Department of Wildlife Conservation and the CITES Management Authority) for meeting us to discuss our survey results and Tiger trade issues. We also appreciate the time that many leading figures in conservation in China took to meet us and share their knowledge and expert advice. Journalist Zhang Kejia also provided us with a full briefing of her investigation of Xiongsen Wine Producing Company Ltd. and Bear and Tiger Mountain Village. Zhang Yaping at the Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences Laboratory and his team are thanked for assisting us with their forensics DNA analysis. Matthew Durnin also assisted with this aspect of our research and Bonnie Yates at the United States Fish and Wildlife Service’s Wildlife Forensics Laboratory is thanked for her analysis of a photograph used in this report. Eminent mammalogist Sheng Helin is thanked for contributing his statement on captive Tigers and the tradition of Tiger bone use (Appendix 1), written for the Workshop on the Relationship between Use and Conservation of Rare Animal Medicinal Resources, held by TRAFFIC’s China Programme in March 2006. Hank Jenkins is thanked for providing us with his unpublished report, and Kirsten Conrad for her information. This report has benefited from these individuals’ knowledge and expertise, but the conclusions and recommendations are our own. The research for this report was organized by TRAFFIC’s China programme and funded by a generous grant from the Save the Tiger Fund <www.savetheTigerfund.org>. Additional support was provided by WWF, the conservation organization; the Rufford Maurice Laing Foundation; and the TORAYA Confectionery Co., Ltd. The Tiger range map for this report was produced by Tim Bean at the Wildlife Conservation Society in New York. We thank our reviewers for their helpful comments on the draft of this report: Steven Broad, Fan Zhiyong, R. Craig Kirkpatrick, Tshering Lama, Susan Lieberman, Judy Mills, Xu Hongfa and Zhang Endi. The report was edited by Caroline Liou, Kim Lochen and Richard Thomas. iv TAMING THE TIGER TRADE: China’s markets for wild and captive tiger products since the 1993 domestic trade ban EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Tigers are threatened with extinction, with a global effective population size of fewer than 2,500 adults in the wild. One of the primary threats to their survival is illegal trade in bone, used for traditional medicines or for health tonics. The illegal trade in skins for clothing is a growing threat, as well. With Tigers so rare, demand has widened to other Asian big cat species, including Leopard, Snow Leopard and Clouded Leopard. China’s consumers have held the largest market share of these global, illegal trades. China’s existing policy—a complete trade ban, implemented in 1993—has been vital to protecting Tigers in the wild. China’s government should be congratulated for the positive, long-standing impacts of its policy, its enforcement actions and awareness efforts in support of Tiger conservation. This is particularly the case with traditional medicines. The TRAFFIC surveys of the current report found little Tiger bone available in China, with less than 3% of 663 medicine shops and dealers in 26 Chinese cities claiming to stock it. There was high awareness that Tiger is protected and that trade is illegal (with 64% of retail pharmacies mentioning this to the TRAFFIC investigators). China’s medicinal industry now appears largely in compliance with the 1993 trade ban. The ban has greatly reduced the production, sale and use of Tiger and Leopard medicines. With regard to traditional medicine, China’s policy is achieving its goal. Notwithstanding the effectiveness of China’s ban in reducing bone trade, new markets for Tiger and Leopard skins have risen within the past five years, particularly in areas of China that are traditionally Tibetan. About 3% of Tibetans surveyed in major towns, such as Lhasa and Nagchu, claimed to own cloaks, or chubas, made from Tiger or Leopard skin, even though most people know this is illegal. In 2005, China’s government and other concerned organizations publicized the environmental concerns—and illegal nature—of this skin trade. TRAFFIC’s time-lapse surveys suggest there has been a decline in the sale and use of Tiger skin clothing after these awareness efforts. With strict enforcement as a backdrop, public education can be a powerful tool for raising awareness, changing consumer behaviour and reducing illegal trade. Since 1999, China has seized more Tiger and Leopard products than any other range State. This shows strong enforcement effort, and considerable enforcement success. However, China’s seizure records are also an indication of continuing demand, despite the market declines suggested by TRAFFIC’s surveys. China’s enforcement efforts must remain strong if illegal trade is to continue declining in future years. TRAFFIC’s findings provide strong evidence that China’s trade ban has been effective at reducing the market for Tiger products, particularly traditional medicines. Still, illegal trade remains a threat. China’s progress in Tiger conservation, especially Tiger trade, would almost certainly be undone if China’s markets for Tiger products were re-opened. Presently, business people in China who stand to profit from Tiger trade are encouraging demand for Tiger products. And the government of China has been petitioned to ease its trade ban by allowing domestic trade in medicines made from captive-bred Tigers. TAMING THE TIGER TRADE: China’s markets for wild and captive tiger products since the 1993 domestic trade ban v Lifting the ban or weakening China’s policy by exempting products derived from captive-bred Tigers would be dangerous, heightening the possibility that Tigers will some day become extinct in the wild.