2014-07-22
A policeman stands in front of a pile of ivory before it is crushed during a public event in Dongguan, south China’s Guangdong province, Jan. 6, 2014.
AFP
Amid an ever-widening wealth gap, China’s emerging nouveau riche classes are developing a taste for endangered species as a badge of affluence: the more endangered, the better, according to a prominent animal rights campaigner.
China is one of the world’s largest consumers of wildlife products, from elephant ivory and shark fin to tiger bone and rhino horn, and animal rights groups have long campaigned to stop the trade in endangered animal parts, both online and offline.
China is currently home to 420 species listed as endangered, including giant pandas, golden monkeys, and the Asiatic black bear, which is commonly exploited for bile for traditional medicine products.
“They eat anything and everything, and it seems that the more endangered an animal they eat, the more of a boost they get to their personal prestige,” Grace Ge Gabriel, regional director for China at the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), told RFA.
“And this problem has become more and more serious in recent years.”
In May, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress (NPC) issued a decree to clarify China’s laws on the trade in wildlife.
Anyone who eats or buys endangered species or their parts could face a prison term of up to 10 years, official media reported.
Farmed or wild?
According to Ge Gabriel, the use of farmed animals to satisfy demand for medicinal animal parts has confused the general public, in spite of growing awareness of environmental and animal protection issues across the country.
“Some of the big tiger farms in China raise tigers specifically to sell tiger-related products,” Ge Gabriel said. “While it’s illegal in China to trade in wild tiger parts, the law allows trade in farmed tiger parts.”
“This has created a grey area in the market for tiger parts in China, and it has caused a great deal of confusion for consumers, because it’s hard for them to be sure whether the tiger products come from wild or farmed animals,” she said.
“This has had a bad effect on public education about endangered species.”
The lack of public awareness of the effects of certain types of trade has also been exported to other countries, where Chinese demand is blamed for fueling elephant poaching for illegal ivory.
