China says it will allow trading in products made from endangered tigers and rhinos under “special circumstances.”
Reversing a previous ban and the Chinese legal amendment has brought lots of condemnation from conservation groups. A notice from the Cabinet issued Monday avoided mentioning any change in the law, saying instead that it would “control” the trade and that rhino horns and tiger bones could only be obtained from farmed animals for use in “medical research or in healing.”
“Under the special circumstances, regulation on the sales and use of these products will be strengthened, and any related actions will be authorized, and the trade volume will be strictly controlled,” the statement said.
If the lifted ban is implemented, in the next few years there wont be any Tigers and Rhinos for the future generation to see. They will become extinct with the increase of poaching to satisfy medical needs.
Tiger bone and rhino horn are used in traditional Chinese medicine, despite a lack of evidence of their effectiveness in treating illness and the effect on wild populations. No reason was given for the lifting of the ban, which was implemented in 1993 amid a global push to protect fast-disappearing endangered species.
The statement also said nothing about regulating the farming of tigers and rhinos, but added that the central government “urged governments at all levels to improve publicity activities for protecting rhinos and tigers to help the public actively boycott any illegal purchases.”
The World Wildlife Fund said the move to overturn the ban would have “devastating consequences globally” by allowing poachers and smugglers to hide behind the legalized trade.
An estimated 3,890 tigers remain alive in the wild, according to a report presented during the Third Asia Ministerial Conference on Tiger Conservation in 2016. Thousands of tigers are also believed to have been bred on Chinese farms where conditions for the animals are often criticized as dire.
Studies put the population of wild rhinos at less than 30,000, while poaching is reducing that number drastically each year.
