China Environmental Law

Recent undercover work of the UK-based Environmental Investigation Agency (UKEIA) discovered that

Animal parks in China are turning tiger bones in an alcoholic “health tonic” and defying international laws aimed at protecting one of the world’s most endangered species, The Sunday Telegraph can reveal.

[Do quality papers in England still use that "can reveal" locution? Guess so] Here’s the problem:

International trade in tiger body parts and derivatives is banned under UN Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). Domestic trade is prohibited under national law and reinforced by a special State Council order in 1993.

Yet:

Staff at two “safari parks” a few hours from the capital Beijing offered to sell undercover investigators wine made from the crushed bones of tigers that died in captivity at the sanctuaries.

The wine, which it is claimed, helps to cure conditions including arthritis and rheumatism, is advertised openly and sold at the parks.

These allegations have caused the Chinese authorities to leap into action. They have

vowed to punish anyone found to be trading in endangered animals or their products, following a foreign media report of sales of tiger bone wine in Beijing and northern China.

Rest assured that no stone will be left unturned. True, although the Sunday Telegraph reported that the wine was openly advertised at the two locations visited by the UKEIA investigators, the Chinese report quotes local regulators as saying that previous investigations had not turned up any illegal sales at the facilities. But they will look again:

“An investigation into the wildlife park in Qinhuangdao would be conducted on Thursday afternoon,” said Yang Chunming, head of the Qinhuangdao Forestry Public Security Bureau, without elaborating. “We will deal seriously with any case of illegally selling the bodies or products of wild animals,” he said.

Does anyone else find this pre-inspection announcement a strange investigative tactic?  Is it any wonder previous inspections have turned up empty? That, or perhaps this shocking bit of news:

The wine is also said to be used as a form of bribe for government officials.

To be fair, the tigers at these parks were apparently raised in captivity for the amusement of those who still enjoy “a ‘circus’ of performing tigers, lions bears and primates.” So why should we be concerned if the bones of those who die “in fights” (are these “fights” part of the circus?) are used to make wine?  Here’s why:

The park owners want the Chinese government to lift the domestic ban on trade in tiger body parts from “farmed” tigers. so they can produce bone wine commercially.

Ms Banks [head of the UKEIA's tiger campaign] said this would be “disastrous” for endangered wild tigers. “Lifting the ban would increase demand and lead to a surge in poaching of India’s already embattled wild tiger populations,” she said.

“It would be all too easy to launder their skins, bones and parts among those from legalised tiger farms. This would be effectively declare an open season on wild tigers.”

This is no man/beast tradeoff, fortunately. The tigers can be protected and the arthritic and rheumatic can find relief in equally effective alternatives:

The professional Chinese medicine community says that “culturally acceptable substitutes”, such as the common mole rat, have been used since tiger bone was removed from the official list of ingredients in 1993.

Candidly, “common mole rat” wine would not be an “acceptable substitute” for me, but then I’m not your average TCM consumer.

It will be interesting to see if there are any reports on the results of the Thursday afternoon investigation. If I see anything, I’ll let you know.