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Groups Release TV Spot Urging Nations To Reject Reopening of China Tiger Trade
29 May 2007
International Tiger Coalition
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Contact: Belinda Wright, WPSI
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91 11 4163 5920/ 21/ 23
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London – In advance of the world’s largest wildlife trade
meeting next week, 35 organisations have launched a powerful, 4-minute
television spot urging China to keep its ban on tiger trade.
One of the UK’s leading actors, Martin Jarvis, lent his voice to
the spot, which details the consequences that reopening legal trade
would have on wild tigers. The public service announcement can be
viewed at www.endtigertrade.org.
Investors in massive, captive tiger breeding centers in China are
putting pressure on the Chinese government to lift its successful
14-year-old ban on trade in tiger parts so they can legally sell
products like tiger bone wine and tiger meat. The topic is expected to
be discussed next week when officials from 171 nations gather for
meetings of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species
(CITES) in The Netherlands.
“Closing China’s tiger markets has helped take the pressure
off wild tiger populations across Asia,” said Steve Trent of
WildAid. “If China lifts its ban, it will make it open season on
tigers in the wild. The crime syndicates that control the black market
for tiger parts will use such a legal market to ‘launder’
poached tigers through. By keeping the ban, China will demonstrate its
continued commitment and global leadership for tiger
conservation.”
To oppose such a move, 35 environmental, zoo and animal protection
organizations, as well as the traditional Chinese medicine community,
have joined together as the International Tiger Coalition. The
coalition is calling for an end to trade in tiger parts and products
through increased intelligence-led law enforcement and strengthening
existing tiger trade bans.
“Next week’s CITES meeting gives world leaders an
opportunity to speak up for one of the world’s most endangered
and most hunted animals,” said Debbie Banks of the Environmental
Investigation Agency. “People around the world who care about
tigers must let their governments know that they want them to oppose
any resumption of tiger trade anywhere.”
Tiger supporters can take action at www.endtigertrade.org.
Aaranyak
American College of Traditional Chinese Medicine
Animal Welfare Institute
Animals Asia Foundation
Association of Zoos & Aquariums
Born Free Foundation
Born Free USA
British and Irish Association of Zoos and Aquariums
Care for the Wild International
Conservation International
Council of Colleges of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine
David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation
Environmental Investigation Agency
Global Tiger Patrol
Humane Society International
Humane Society of the United States
International Fund for Animal Welfare PeunPa
Ranthambhore Foundation
Save The Tiger Fund
Species Survival Network
The Corbett Foundation
Tigris Foundation
TRAFFIC
21st Century Tiger
WildAid
Wildlife Alliance
Wildlife Conservation Nepal
Wildlife Conservation Society
Wildlife Protection Society of India
Wildlife Trust of India
World Association of Zoos & Aquariums
World Society for the Protection of Animals
WWF
Zoological Society of London
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