Tiger in Traditional Chinese Medicine Tiger is the largest of all cats and the most feared predator; it is also one of the most charismatic animals, he is �the Lord of the forest and stands for all that is magnificent in nature� (qtd. In McNeely and Wachtel 194). People throughout the Asian continent admire and revere the tiger, the complex relationship with this predator stems from the very character of the tiger. The tiger is a national symbol of India; it is present in religions and mythology of the region as well as part of traditional medicine (McNeely and Wachtel 195). In the 1900 there were approximately 100,000 tigers in the wild spread through the entire Asian continent, now the count is between 4,600 to 7,700 representing an astonishing 95% decline, all the remaining tigers live in small, isolated populations in widely scattered reserves. Up until the mid 20th Century tiger populations were healthy in numbers and occupied a wide range of habitats. |
| TCM Second only to the rhinoceros, tiger bones and body parts are believed to cure a vast array of diseases and afflictions. The first references to the tiger bone as a medicinal ingredient can be traced to 1,500 years ago in China. The uses of such remedies spread to other Asian countries and were adopted with some modifications in Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Vietnam and many other areas where significant Asian populations exist, representing a single greatest threat of extinction that transpires over the tiger (Nowell 11). Because of the tiger�s strength and mythical powers, the Chinese culture believes that the tiger has medicinal qualities. Nearly every part of the tiger has been reported to have healing powers by Chinese medical practitioners and in Chinese folklore. The Chinese pharmacopoeia mentions remedies made from a variety of tiger parts, which can cure diseases ranging from insomnia and malaria, to meningitis and bad skin and replenish the body�s essential energy (Meacham 86). Forms in witch Tigers are Traded TRAFFIC has provided the most complete list of the forms in which the tiger is traded: � Raw bone � soaked in acidic liquid, such as wine, and then roasted and ground into powder, which subsequently is mixed with herbal ingredients; there are over 100 different prescriptions containing tiger bone. � Tiger bone gelatine � the bone is condensed to gelatine by boiling for several days, until it is reduced to a glue-like consistency, then it is cut into small pieces and packaged for sale; this form of preparation is most popular in Vietnam. � Tiger-bone wine � it is a form of medicinal wine that contains powdered tiger bone; it is very common in the medicinal market. � Other tiger-bone medicines � include pills, �tea balls�, adhesive plasters, medicated massage oils. � Other medicines not containing tiger bones � a variety of medicines are made from tiger teeth, gall bladder, fat, bits of hairless skin, and even urine and faeces. � Tiger tonics � differ from medicines in that the tonics are used to improve health and vitality, food from wild animals is considered as powerful tonic. Perhaps the most infamous tonic of all is the tiger penis, considered to provide sexual virility. � Luxury items and charms � those mostly include items made from skin for display purposes but also as magical charms, whiskers, teeth, claws and collarbones are made into jewelry and are considered magical amulets2. Tiger parts are considered a delicacy and are served at special private banquets; the use of tiger parts is seen as a symbol of high status and wealth. The use of such products is nothing new, but the increase in the standard of living in Southeast Asia has made these remedies affordable to most people. Increase in Use of TCM In recent years there has been resurgence in traditional practices fundamental to the history of Chinese society. For many Chinese, tiger based medicines are more than just drugs, they are part of spiritual healing and faith (McNeely and Wachtel 219). This believes have been fuelled by cultural pride, and a growing sentiment that western medicine contains some shortcomings in treating illness. Furthermore, new communities around the globe including non-Asian communities are supplementing traditional Chinese medicine treatments into their western style of medicine, igniting the demand for tiger parts beyond what can be supplied. Tiger crisis of 1970 � 1990 �Pest Tigers� During the Cultural Revolution in China huge amounts of land were being converted for agricultural use, forests were clear-cut or burned and tigers, which inhabited those forests, were declared pests. In the 1960s bounties were offered for every dead tiger (Day, 246). Chinese scientists say that an estimated 3,000 tiger skins were handed in during the 1950s and 1960s (Nowell v). Chinese government, however, did not have any program established for the disposal of the bodies, so the hunters supplied the medicinal market in huge quantities; the high level of supply lowered the prices of tiger medicines, thus making them affordable to the mostly poor population of China. First Conservation Laws The enormous decline of tiger population got the attention of the conservation community around the world and several Asian Governments passed first conservation laws in the early 1970s. In 1972 India, under the leadership of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, established several reserves and hunting and trade in skins were banned in many countries. Some of the actions taken in India to protect the tiger included the control of hunting not only tigers but tiger prey as well, in some of the reserves official logging was stopped and human populations were reduced by relocation (Karanth). Conservation efforts created favourable conditions for the population of tigers in India and until today Bengal tigers are the most abundant of all. It seemed that CITES, in combination with national laws protecting the tiger in range countries had managed to eliminate the demand for the tiger. While the international conservation community was celebrating the success of the Tiger Project, more and more tigers were vanishing from Indian reserves (Karanth). As bad as was the crisis in India it was even worse in the Siberian Russia. With the fall of the Soviet Union came the breakdown of law and order in the taiga and the tigers were killed on the regular basis (Meacham 41). India, Nepal and Russia did not have a market for tiger bone; however, bones and other body parts were being smuggled out of the range countries (Seidensticker). The declining number of tigers did not catch the attention of the conservation community until the late 1980s, when the increasing poaching and smuggling were linked to the increasing demand for tiger parts and bones in TCM (Nowell v) and the realization that the methods of tiger census implemented in Indian reserves had miscounted the tigers and that the numbers were less than previously thought. The conservation community failed to recognise that the demand for tiger bones was always there, but it went unnoticed because the previous massacre of tigers in China had created a temporary glut in the medicinal market, only when China had exhausted its tiger bone reserves did the conservationists noticed the unusual trends in poaching. Also the growing incomes in the Pacific Rim fuelled the demand for TCM (Angier). In fact the Chinese National Pharmaceutical Bureau proposed the establishment of the first tiger breeding facility near Beijing in 1987 (�t Sas-Rolfes 5). The first such facility to open was the Hengdaohezi Felidae Breeding Centre; China and Thailand had been known to have at least another three similar facilities since then (Nowell 37).China had long claimed that breeding facilities were intended to breed tigers for the release into the wild not for the supply to the bone market of traditional medicine. Tiger Farms The tiger farms are one of the most controversial issues surrounding China and tiger conservation because it is the mistreatment of a majestic, charismatic animal that repulses conservationists and the public in general. Tigers are kept in small cages, half starved, cubs prematurely weaned, and the evidence of experiments on female tigers gone wrong (Day 319). In the wild the cubs stay with their mother for over two years, so they can be taught how to hunt and acquire basic survival skills from her. The breeding facilities were obtaining two litters a year from each female tigress, which can only be achieved by prematurely separating the cubs so the tigress can breed again. It was obvious that the young tigers were never intended to be released in the wild (Day 272). By all accounts the gruesome descriptions of such breeding practices can stop the legalization of tiger farming, but the evidence that the Chinese breeding centres were not intending to release those tigers into the wild at all and that they had been lying to the international community is what stirred the controversy. Tiger Crisis in the Early 1990s The demand for tiger bone and parts originates in China, Korea and Taiwan. Korea openly imported tiger bones until July 1993 and the customs statistics offered a rare glimpse into the scope of the demand for tigers. While the tiger populations were plummeting down Korea imported from 52 to 96 dead tigers a year between 1988 and 1992, imports rose between 1990 and 1991, probably due to the trade ban expectations (Nowell 4). Korea finally joined CITES in 1993 and banned all imports of tiger products. China and Taiwan have been CITES members for years but the laws were implemented poorly. Investigations conducted by Britain�s �Tiger Trust� and the EIA revealed that active markets in China, Taiwan, Thailand and other Asian consuming and manufacturing business not only existed but also prospered3. The Governments turned a blind eye on the existence of tiger farms and the fact that they were occasionally bringing wild tigers to improve the genetic pool of the captive tiger population as well as on the fact that tiger medicines were widely available everywhere. Trade Sanctions Based on the information collected by several NGO, a case against offending nations was brought before the governing committee of CITES in March of 1993 (�Tigers�). The stage was set for trade sanctions to be imposed on China and Taiwan (Mark). Alarmed at the prospects of such actions the two countries loudly advertised their efforts to take the illegal trade under control, but there is little evidence of the effectiveness. In response to international pressure China banned the trade involving tiger parts in May of 1993 and tiger bones and body parts were removed from the �official pharmacopoeia of China�4. China announced the creation of a task force of 40,000 people to enforce the laws aimed at the black market, but conservationists had a hard time believing such claims, considering the fact that at the same time China proposed that tiger farms be legalized to supply the medicinal market (Meacham 177). The Taiwanese announced the creation of a task force for protection of endangered wild life within the police force, however there was no evidence of any personnel or budget set for such a department. Some reports state that one of the so-called efforts was to send uniformed police officers to the pharmacies asking whether they sold tiger bones (�Tigers�). In January of 1994 the Associated Press reported that China successfully implemented the ban on trade of tiger parts and several manufacturing facilities have been shut down. CITES officials were invited to witness the burning of the confiscated tiger bones (Day 352). The undercover investigation conducted by Tiger Trust associates uncovered quite a different story at a Chinese medicine plant using raw tiger bone. Equipped with the hidden camera the group was able to provide the world with the truth behind China�s success story. On the tape one of the Chinese Government officials present at the previous CITES event, seated beside the CEO of the manufacturing plant, confirmed that the bones burned were in fact fakes and that the real ones would have never been burned. In few words the Chinese official summed up the total disregard for the wildlife (Day 352-354). They were buying tigers from Russia, India and other parts of Asia. The tapes with interviews and images of the processing facility proved that the Chinese Government had been lying to the international conservation community yet again but now it has managed to convince CITES to the contrary, the findings were dismissed the American initiative to sanction China was silenced (Day 359). Global Tiger Forum In response to increased poaching India called the tiger range nations to create an organization that would provide a combined, multilateral support across all the tiger range and reserves. The Global Tiger Forum was established in 1994 and 11 of the 14 tiger range states met in India (Nowell 68). The goal of the Forum was to eliminate the illegal trade, promote training, increase the area protected as the tiger habitat, increase awareness and conduct scientific research. However, the lack of governmental support of different range countries did not allow the organization to raise the profile of tiger conservation in the political agendas of different Asian countries. A number of other bilateral and multilateral agreements among numerous countries aimed at tiger conservation that have been in effect, and although such agreements represent progress in the tiger issue, more has to be done to raise the level of priority on the political agendas of various countries (See Appendix A: Table 1 Bilateral and Multilateral Agreements Affecting Tiger Conservation and Trade Control), because lack of cooperation among all countries and nations involved in tiger trade remains one of the weakest points in tiger conservation campaigns. TCM and Wildlife Conservation Chinese medicine has deep cultural and religious roots in the lives and traditions of many Asian nations, it has also greatly contributed to the well being of the people throughout centuries5. TCM has survived the suppression stages when the governments tried to substitute the practices with Western style medicine proving that it cannot be easily eradicated. Conservationists are working closely with the traditional medicine practitioners to find substitutes to tiger based medicines. Surveys conducted in the late 1990s show that the availability of tiger based products has declined, the consumers responded positively to the use of substitute and were supportive of the conservation issues. Major advances in the enforcement and implementation of the trade ban and cooperation with the practitioners of traditional medicine have helped in reducing the demand and consequently lower the price of tiger bones on the black market (Nowell ix-x). The effort to educate the users of traditional medicine and offer of substitutes has helped to reduce the use of tiger products, but the process is slow and the tiger population cannot sustain even the smallest amount of poaching (�Many Countries�). The demand still exists, for example, the surveys of traditional medicine practitioners showed that the majority does not believe in the effectiveness of substitutes. Of those surveyed 27% of pharmacists and 45% of doctors new the substitutes were available but only half of them believed in their efficacy compared to tiger bone (Nowell 65). Changing attitudes and old traditions is not an easy task, it takes time and the problem is far from being solved. Asia is one of the most populated continents and even a low demand is counted in millions of people; tradition combined with the possibility of making money creates almost an impossible task of preventing the trade, which have been said to be similar to the drug trade (Nowell vi) with an estimated annual turnover of $6 billion (Pearce). However big the challenges might be, cooperation between the TCM practitioners and conservationists is crucial. Market Dynamics The increasing popularity of traditional medicine has depleted animal and plant populations in Asia and around the world, driving many of them into extinction. The wildlife market of Asia is a giant web of dealers that move endangered tigers and their products and derivatives down to places like Singapore, Hong Kong, China, and Taiwan, which are the big money markets � places where people have big amounts of money, relative to the rest of Asia. Burma, Lao PDR and Cambodia are not signatories to CITES; therefore tiger hunting and trading is legal. Poaching one tiger can bring as much as 10 years� income in Russia that became a key supplier in the tiger trade due to political, economic and social instability (Meier). The supply of tigers, rhinoceros and musk deer among others are being exhausted because �they are so successful as walking drugstores� even though there is very little evidence to support the claims of miraculous healing powers (McNeely and Wachtel, 222). Markets for tiger bone operate openly in Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Myanmar and Vietnam, with Cambodia being number one supplier (Nowell 26). They cater primarily to China, Vietnam and Thailand (Nowell 25). While conservation efforts have been concentrating on the protectionist efforts in range countries, the real problem resides in the consuming countries where the demand exists. As long as there is demand, there will be supply, and with the shrinking number of tigers prices are rising and so are the incentives to poach (Day 225). East Asian counties are much richer and more economically developed, it�s citizens can afford to pay high prices for the medicines, while those who reside in tiger range states are among the poorest people in the world; therefore the rewards for poaching are enormous to them (Pearce). As a rough estimate the total value of tiger�s body parts is about 70,000 US Dollars (Nowell 54). Farmed versus Wild Some conservationists believe that in the face of the threats of extinction of wild tigers, farming should be considered as a viable solution to the ever increasing demand and the decreasing number of tigers. It should be noted, however that the threat of extinction is only to wild tigers, as the captive population is not under any threat at all. In fact tigers are so successful in breeding in captivity that they have to be frequently separated and birth control is used to control the number of cubs (Meacham ix). The supporters of tiger farming argue that breeding tigers to satisfy the demand for traditional medicine has the potential of reducing or altogether eliminating the financial incentives for poaching of tigers (Nowell 20). While this view is widely supported by Chinese Government and some conservationists, the overwhelming majority opposes such farms. The major argument against tiger farming is that tigers are expensive to maintain and there is no guarantee that acquiring parts from a farm will be cheaper than buying it from a poor hunter. Also many of the tiger breeding facilities face the problem of inbreeding they have been reported of capturing wild cubs to improve the captive population or to sell poached wild tigers as if they were captive bred. The concern is that the international conservation community and CITES can do very little to oppose or prevent the domestic legalization of tiger farming because they have no legal authority over national laws of each country (Nowell 39-40). However, some conservationists believe that legalizing tiger farming will relieve the wild tiger population and eventually bring the prices down by satisfying the existent demand (Meacham 171). Decades of trade bans did not stop the poaching, in fact it only raised the price and the rewards, wild tigers populations are under threat more than ever. In Asia many wild animals are considered to have utilitarian value and it is so ingrained in culture and traditions that farming tigers is the same as for us farming cows. In fact the attacks by Western conservationists on traditional medicine has many times been regarded as the attack on East Asian culture (Pearce). Many critics of the present conservation laws believe that imposing the Western style conservation in Asia will not save the tigers from extinction. Reversing the Trend The political and economic problems that impact the ability of the tiger to survive are large and complex. It is difficult to provide immediate solutions to war, poverty, corruption, and the global pressure on forest resources. Legally forcing relatively poor communities to choose between their own livelihood and the survival of the tiger is not a sustainable solution, animal rights activists will not all of a sudden approve of tiger farming and the users of TCM will not forget their convictions (Meacham 238). To be effective, laws protecting tigers have to be reinforced by public education that raises awareness and demonstrates the seriousness of the threat of extinction and the importance of conservation. Simultaneous and combined efforts in tiger range and consumer countries have to be implemented. Range Countries In range countries additional economic resources are needed to support currently under funded enforcement efforts. Usually those that live close to the tiger reserves are very poor and high rewards for poaching are extremely attractive (�t Sas-Rolfes). Government regulations and laws against trade have had little effect; in fact the trade has become a lucrative business with great payoffs (�t Sas-Rolfes). People who live close to the tiger habitats are the ones that can make the difference in stopping the poaching. Thus, making the tiger worth more alive than dead has become a focus of the international conservation community (Seidensticker). Local support is crucial for the survival of the tiger, for that local people have to benefit from conservation actions. Nepal introduced a plan that included such premises as the profit sharing program, namely 30 to 50% of the park income will be used for improvements in the local communities (Gajurel). In India the efforts are going towards the proper training of border patrol and custom officers, as well as prompt response to incidents of tiger attacks on livestock. Putting the money into the hands of the farmer for the loss of livestock faster than the poacher will could make a difference between a dead and a live tiger (Seidensticker). In Russia the intensive anti poaching campaigns, funded by WWF and led by a Siberian native Pavel Flomenko, have reduced the number of poached tigers down to an estimated 30 animals (Meier). Consumer Countries In consumer countries a more rigorous enforcement of antitrade laws and international policies must be strengthened. In addition to laws, medicinal alternatives containing no tiger parts need to be developed and well publicized. For example, experts of TCM have discovered that some Chinese traditional texts mention the bones of the Asian rodent called sailong, which is very common in China, as an alternative to tiger bone (Angier). Lessons from previous conservation campaigns can be learned, for example the ivory trade ban. Ivory was used in jewelry in the U.S. and Europe, under an intensive campaign to save the elephants such items became unfashionable, but in Japan, where ivory is used for traditional art forms, the use did not stop (Motavalli). Thus when dealing with traditions conservationists need different approach to overcome those challenges. It is worth mentioning that in spite of a wide criticism that China and other major consumer countries receive, the U.S. was the major destination of tiger-based medicines (�t Sas-Rolfes). Many developed countries such as Canada, U.S., Australia and others have very weak law enforcement when it comes to wild life. It is important to recognize that the problem exists wherever those, who believe in the ancient Chinese healing system, reside. Conclusion Basic misconceptions about TCM have existed and influenced the conservation efforts in previous years. Wildlife conservation and TCM were thought to be enemies and one worked against the other due to the lack of communication and misconceptions on both sides. Threat of trade sanctions against China and Taiwan that were still trading tiger bone domestically turned the debate on the use of wildlife in TCM into the debate on national and cultural independence. Judy Mills the director of TRAFFIC East Asia said: TCM saw wildlife conservationists as the reason for loss of important medicines and livelihoods. Conservationists saw TCM as a primary reason for the possible loss of entire species. Neither side saw the situation clearly nor fully. Neither side communicated with the other. Neither understood the good intentions of the other. (qtd. in Nowell 97) Both sides in the issue were misinformed and had misconceptions: TCM practitioners thought that Asia was rich in wildlife and there was no threat to the species used in medicine, by the same token conservationists declared that TCM as a whole had to be eradicated due to the availability of synthesized drugs. Such attitudes resulted in years of fruitless efforts and further declines of tiger populations. The truth is that TCM practitioners were concerned about the availability of wild species for the medicines, China�s first experimental farms were introduced in response of such concerns. However controversial the issue of farming might be it clearly states that TCM practitioners were never interested in species extermination, to the contrary their livelihoods depend on the abundance of wildlife. Conservation and TCM have more in common that it appears at first, the two sides need one another. What happened with the tiger population can be used as a lesson in cooperation to prevent another species widely used in TCM from becoming so endangered that its use is no longer possible even in controlled amounts. Until the tiger populations are not robust enough the use of tiger products are not likely to be legally allowed. Main Page Tiger Subspecies Links |
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