Via @WildTigerNews -
Controversial policy could spur tiger trade in China
There's a couple of key paragraphs in this article. First though, I reaffirm that WildTiger totally endorses EIA's (Environmental Investigation Agency) stance on this issue, we've been a signatory at high level conferences. Wildlife farming is a burning issue globally and while obviously there is beneficial provision for prey species growth and reintroduction (among others, including rewilding) there are too many loopholes and soft regulating. Political and commercial agendas are to the fore.
There is effort being made in China to end the practice of tiger farming - from the article "Meanwhile, the tiger farming issue has been raised, possibly for the first time ever, at yearly high-level meetings in Bejing. Yuan Xikun, a member of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, introduced a resolution requesting that commercial tiger breeding facilities be closed down, citing the negative impact on wild tiger conservation, damage to the country’s reputation and multiple violations of national laws."
BUT this next paragraph is key, not just to the China situation but to the practice of wildlife farming globally:
"Provisions within the country’s new Wildlife Protection Law refer to captive breeding and “utilization” of wildlife. But the law, which was enacted in January, does not specify which protected species can be “utilized”— legally sold — within China. The forestry administration is currently drawing up that list, says Debbie Banks, a tiger expert with the London-based Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA)."
