CHINA FIGHTS BAN ON SALE OF TIGER PARTS
China is pressing to be allowed to lift its ban on the domestic sale of tiger parts ahead of an international conference on endangered species next month.Chinese officials were in New Delhi last week to discuss the move before the meeting of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (Cites) at The Hague from June 3-15. To lift the ban China needs majority approval from Cites members – and support from India, home to half of the world's tigers, is crucial. The Chinese proposal would not include selling tiger parts in India.
The Chinese are advocating tiger farming to supply a legal trade that would stem poaching from India, protect wild tigers and supply ingredients for traditional Chinese medicine. China already has tiger farms with about 4,000 animals, started ostensibly to breed tigers for release into the wild.
The World Wildlife Fund-India disagrees. Lifting the ban – which China implemented domestically in 1993 – would “sound the death knell for the Indian tiger”, said Sujoy Banerjee of the organisation. Heightened consumer demand, he said, would fuel the already robust illegal trade from India because parts of poached tigers would be far cheaper than those of farmed tigers.
“We are worried about the potential size of the market if the ban is lifted,” said Mr Banerjee, director of WWF-India's species conservation programme.
A team from WWF-India recently visited China's tiger farms and said they were capable of eventually raising as many as 100,000 tigers. Activists claim that owners of the farms are eager to capitalise on the potentially lucrative market and are putting pressure on the Chinese government.
The Indian government has not taken a firm stance on China's proposal to lift its ban. “We are disappointed by the lacklustre response,” said Ravi Singh, chief executive of WWF-India.
在下月即将召开濒危物种国际会议之前，中国正敦促国际社会，允许其撤消对国内虎制品贸易的禁令。
《濒危物种国际贸易公约》(Cites)大会将于6月3日至15日在荷兰海牙召开。在此之前，中国官员上周在新德里商讨采取解禁措施。要想解除禁令，中国必须获得《濒危物种国际贸易公约》大多数成员的同意，而鉴于全球有半数虎类分布在印度，因此获得印度的支持也至关重要。中国的此项提议不包括在印度进行虎制品买卖。
中国方面提议对老虎进行饲养，以满足合法贸易的需要，此举可能扼制来自印度的盗猎行为，保护野生虎，并为中药提供药材。中国已饲养了约4000只老虎，表面理由是为了日后“放虎归山”。
世界自然基金会(WWF)印度分支机构对此表示反对。该组织印度分支机构的物种保护项目主管苏约伊•班纳吉(Sujoy Banerjee)表示，如果中国解除自1993年以来在国内实施的禁令，可能“为印度虎敲响丧钟”。他表示，消费需求上升，可能刺激来自印度本已猖獗的非法贸易，原因是盗猎虎制品会比饲养虎制品便宜得多。
班纳吉表示：“我们对一旦解禁后该市场的潜在规模感到非常担忧。”
WWF印度分支机构的一个小组最近参观了中国的虎饲养场，并表示这些饲养场最终能够饲养的老虎多达10万只。维权者声称，这些饲养场的所有者非常渴望从这一潜在有利可图的市场上获利，因此正在对中国政府施加压力。
对于中国的解禁提议，印度政府并没有采取坚定的立场。WWF印度分支机构的首席执行官拉维•辛格(Ravi Singh)表示：“我们对（印度）不明朗的回应感到失望。”
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