China ends 25-year-old ban on trade in Rhino-Tiger parts. Indian wildlife likely to suffer
With the largest population of both animals and an over- 4000 kilometer border with China, Indian wildlife is once again susceptible to poaching in view of a growing market for trade in tiger bone and rhino horn used in traditional Chinese medicine and as aphrodisiacs.
It seems that the tiger balms and the extra strong aphrodisiacs boasting of rhino horn extracts will soon make it to shelves across the world, adding to the loss of Indian wildlife as China decides to end its 25-year-old ban and legalize trade in tiger bones and rhino horn. The move could well further adversely impact India’s rhino and tiger population.
Chinese traditional medicines have drawn a lot of flak for their use of animal parts especially tiger bone and rhino horn. The 25-year-old ban on products made using these ingredients had proved to be a shot in the arm for the Indian wildlife industry which, under an aggressive Tiger captive breeding programme and conservation efforts in national Parks like Kaziranga, known for the rare one-horned rhinoceros a has legalized the use of rhino horn and tiger bone in medical research or traditional medicine.
India has the largest population of both species, which had also nearly been entirely wiped out due to poaching that fueled by the market for the illegal animal parts in China. In the 1900s, only a few hundred rhinos survived in the wild and by 1972, the tiger population had dipped to 1,827. Today, there are over 2,200 rhinos (85% of the global population) and tigers (70% of the global population) in the country.
As of now, in China, rhino horn and tiger bone can now be legally used in either medical research or traditional medicines after this latest announcement by the Chinese government. Parts from those animals classified as “antiques” could be used in cultural exchanges following approval by cultural authorities, a statement adds.
“The government mandates clearly recording the current inventory of products and those in individual collections. Illegally obtained products will be confiscated, and products in individual collections are not to be traded again,” the statement added.
However China, stressed while reversing its 25-year-old ban, has said that the specimens can only be obtained from farms. But animal conservationists have argued that this would spell doom for efforts to preserve wildlife, especially in India.
Commenting on the development the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) has said that the move would have “devastating consequences” and be an “enormous setback” to efforts to conserve wild animals. “Even if restricted to antiques and use in hospitals, this trade would increase confusion by consumers and law enforcers as to which products are and are not legal, and would likely expand the markets for other tiger and rhino products,” WWF stated.
In 2015, researchers examined several hundred confiscated shipments from August 2010 to December 2013, including 232 shipments of elephants, 165 of rhinos and 108 of tigers. The paper, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), pinpointed China as the most important country or ‘node’ for illegal rhino and tiger trafficking.
India has a 4,057 km border with China and age-old maritime smuggling routes are particularly at threat. “As an immediate neighbour, India will be affected. The continued and well-planned efforts of the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau, state forest departments and NGOs, the illegal trade in wildlife, especially the tiger trade is coming under control. I fear that this will bounce back, since the demand will increase,” said Jose Louis, Jose Luis, head of Law & Enforcement, Wildlife Trust of India
A senior official of the WCCB said, “The issue at hand is two-fold. One is that this will lead to a spike in demand. The news reports suggest that the Chinese government will be taking strict action against any illegal specimen they found. But by that time, the animals have already been poached. The other is that it’ll embolden poachers here in India.”
According to global experts, the immediate reason for the move was unknown. They have opined that the growing number of tiger country could be a factor. In 2013 the Environmental Investigation Agency had found that several thousand tigers were kept at hundreds of farms across China. With captive tigers expensive to feed and house, and their numbers growing – experts said that the pressure had been mounting on the Chinese government to allow regulated trade. China has also reportedly begun importing rhinos for potential farming.
(With inputs from agencies)
