22. Oct 2009
China ignoring tiger trade
(AFP) China is turning a blind eye to the thriving illegal trade in tiger parts, a campaign group said following an undercover investigation in western China and Tibet. The Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) showed photos taken by a hidden camera revealing the "rampant" sale of tiger and white leopard skins, bones and claws in retail stores. The majority of tiger parts sold in China are smuggled from India via Nepal and the lack of enforcement of a ban on the trade is hobbling efforts by New Delhi to save the animal, it said. "China has really run out of excuses ... if they can put a man into space, they can do more to save the wild tiger", Debbie Banks, from EIA, told a press conference. The EIA report, called "A Deadly Game of Cat and Mouse", comes just five days before a Global Tiger Workshop scheduled in Nepal where international experts and officials are to discuss the dwindling numbers of the animal worldwide.