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China on Tuesday defended its controversial decision to lift the 25-year ban on swapping tiger bones and rhinoceros horns after environmental advocates warned that the government had actually signed a "death warrant" for the endangered species.
The State Council, The Chinese government unexpectedly announced Monday that it would allow the sale of rhinoceros products and tigers in "special circumstances".
These include scientific research, the sale of cultural relics and "medical research or healing".
The country's previous regulations on rhinoceros horn and tiger bone products did not take into account "reasonable needs of reality", such as those stemming from scientific research, education and training. medical treatment, Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said Tuesday.
"Repressive Mechanism" and plans to step up efforts to quell the illegal wildlife trade, Lu said at a regular press conference.
China bans rhinoceros trade According to a survey conducted last year by the protection group of the Elephant Action League, many products have entered the country via Vietnam.
Wildlife advocates fear that the new rules trade illegal and further expose animals to poaching.
Rhinoceros horns seized in Hong Kong by a customs officer. Image courtesy: Rhino Project
"With this announcement, the Chinese government has signed a death sentence for endangered rhinos and tigers that are already facing a myriad of threats to their survival," Iris Ho, Specialist Humane Society International's Wildlife Program
But the State Council stated that the volume of trade would be "strictly controlled", any sale outside its permitted use remaining prohibited.
Newly sanctioned trade zones will also be highly regulated.
Only doctors of hospitals recognized by the State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine will be allowed to use powders of rhinoceros horns and tiger bones powder.
The authorities responsible for tourism and cultural heritage will also have to approve all rhinoceros and tiger products used for "temporary cultural exchange".
& quot; Total Outrage & quot;
Despite the lack of scientific evidence, the demand for rhinoceros horn and tiger bone is in
There are today synthetic alternatives to a number of remedies of 39, animal origin, such as bear bile, which is effective in treating liver cancer.
"The Use AFP .
", said Lan Jirui, a Chinese traditional medicine doctor in Beijing, composed of parts of wild animals such as rhinoceros horns and tiger bones. We now have alternative products, "he added, highlighting the efforts of traditional Chinese medicine doctors to protect wildlife.
For rhinoceros horn and tiger used for medical research or treatment , the council stated that only breeding rhinos and tigers can be used, excluding those raised in zoos.
Tiger parts used in traditional Chinese medicine Image courtesy of Tigers in America
But activists were not rebadured by the regulations
Cultivated wild animals "are born in a miserable life of suffering, then are killed for use in drugs.This is a total scandal," he said. Kate Nustedt, program director at World Animal Protection, a non-profit organization dedicated to animal welfare.
It is estimated that around 6,000 captive tigers, double the world's wild population, are held in about 200 farms in China. In 1960, there were about 100,000 black rhinos in Africa. Today, according to the UN report on wildlife crime around the world, there are fewer than 28,000 rhinoceroses of all species in Africa and Asia.
Southern white rhinos are "near threatened", but according to the WWF, other species such as black rhinos and Sumatra are critically endangered.
China has been striving to crack down on the sale of wildlife products, illegal species such as ivory in recent years.
Ban on the sale of ivory in the country came into effect in December 2017 – to try to control what was once the world's largest product market.
A partial ban on ivory had already resulted in an 80% decline in ivory seizures in China and 65%. lower domestic prices of raw ivory, according to a report released last year by the state media, Xinhua.
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