Captive tigers in the USA outnumber those in the wild.
They are often kept in roadside zoos or as pets due to a lack of regulation leading to abuse, an issue touched upon in Netflix series, Tiger King, which has seen Joe Exotic and Carole Baskin take the world by storm.
But the trade in this iconic species – with now fewer than 4,000 left in the wild – is also happening closer to home.
Almost 70 tiger trophies and body parts have been allowed into the country in just five years, shining a light on Britain’s part in the cruel trade which experts say is fuelling poaching in the wild.
Worldwide, over 17,000 tigers and tiger body parts have been traded or seized in the same period, of which more than
80% were for the traditional Chinese medicine market.
Experts believe the figure to be the tip of the iceberg as much of the trade goes unreported and undetected.
Tigers are facing multiple threats as well as dwindling food resources due to agricultural and residential developments, mining and hunting.
Yet thousands are bred in captivity in South Africa, dubbed “the Wild West”, churning out tigers from backyard operations – a major source of trophy and body part trade.
There are an estimated 60 tiger-breeding centres which produce animals for “cub petting experiences”, canned trophy hunting, and to supply the big cat bone trade.
Tiger bones are turned into “wine”, “cake” and other traditional Chinese medicines – accounting for at least 83% of the total global tiger trade.
The cake is a popular traditional “medicine”. Bottles of wine can reach thousands of pounds and are offered by Chinese VIPs to guests as a status symbol.
Sadly this terrible trade is on the increase. Much of it is driven by growing demand for so-called traditional Chinese medicines.
Eduardo Goncalves of the Campaign to Ban Trophy Hunting said: “Breeding big cats to shoot in a cage is as cowardly as it gets.
The bone trade is driving up demand, fuelling poaching of animals in the wild, and pushing them ever closer to the brink of extinction.”
The Daily Mirror is campaigning to stop importation of trophy parts into the UK. We are now in the middle of a global pandemic because of the cruel wildlife trade.
What is it waiting for?
