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In Taiwan in the 1990s, tiger penises and eyes sold for $1,700. Powdered tiger bones went for $500 a gram. Forelimbs brought in as much as $500 per pound.
Some people in China have suggested raising tigers in captivity—tiger farming if you will—to supply the traditional medicine market, but conservationist argue that this wouldn't work because there is no way to tell the difference between bones from captive and wild animals.
Today, there are reportedly tiger farms in Manchuria. In December, 2002, one hundred rare Bengal tigers were donated by Thailand to China. There were reports in newspapers that the tigers were going to be raised like cattle for meat. One newspaper reported that a place called “Love World” on Hainan Island planned to offer tiger meats dishes while people watched tigers roaming around. Government officials said there was no truth to the reports.
In TCM the bones of Panthera tigris have been used in wines, plasters, and manufactured medicines to treat arthritis and other joint ailments. There is little doubt that the trade in tiger bones for medicinal purposes was a major factor behind the tiger conservation crisis of the 1980s and ’90s. Today there are as few as 5,000 to 7,000 tigers in the wild; they are designated as endangered on the 2007 World Conservation Union Red List of Threatened Species. About 5,000 tigers are being raised on farms in China as well.
Tiger: Another “walking drug store'', with almost every part used as powder, balms, pills or meat to be eaten. Penis is used as an aphrodisiac, bones for arthritis and muscular atrophy, claws against insomnia, fat to fight leprosy, and brain to clear pimples. A tiger on the black market can fetch up to US$10,000 (RM38,000).
Several Asian nations including China, Nepal, Japan, South Korea and Thailand have endorsed tough protections for tigers in the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). The measures commit the countries to enact laws banning the trade of tiger derivatives, preserve tiger habitat, and form a regional network to halt tiger trade. But lack of government resolve and corruption at the highest levels have thwarted enforcement of other wildlife agreements that the nations have signed.
Tiger claws: used as a sedative for insomnia
Teeth: used to treat fever
Fat: used to treat leprosy and rheumatism
Nose leather: used to treat superficial wounds such as bites
Tiger bone: used as an anti-inflammatory drug to treat rheumatism and arthritis, general weakness, headaches, stiffness or paralysis in lower back and legs and dysentery
Eyeballs: used to treat epilepsy and malaria
Tail: used to treat skin diseases
Bile: used to treat convulsions in children associated with meningitis
Whiskers: used to treat toothaches
Brain: used to treat laziness and pimples
Penis: used in love potions such as tiger soup, as an aphrodisiac
Dung or feces: used to treat boils, hemorrhoids and cure alcoholism
A gram of bile from a bear gall bladder sells for more than a gram of gold or coc aine. Some of the bile is exported to Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, where it sells for as much as $1,400 an ounce.
Parts from endangered animals are not just sold in Asia. A survey of pharmacies in Chinatowns in seven cities in Europe and North America found that many sold products made with parts of endangered animals. Bear bile, for example, is sold at pharmacies in Britain.
South Koreans, Taiwanese and Chinese tourist go to restaurants in Thailand where, one environmentalist told AP in the 1990s, "The bear is tortured to death in front of the diners. They say it makes the meat taste better. The cost of the bear banquet is now about 9,000 U.S. dollars."
A typical bear farm has 32 bears kept in four rooms in an apartment building. A typical bear is kept in a 60-x-120-x-75centimeter cages. Some are kept in smaller cages that force them to lay spread eagle on the floor. Many of bears have teeth cracked from gnawing on the bars and paws covered with sores. Some are reportedly driven crazy by confinement and have terrible wounds from self-mutilation. Particularly cruel is the practice of leaving a bear in a snare, allowing to storm around and get angry to increase the amount of bile in its gallbladder.
A gram of bile from a bear gall bladder sells for more than a gram of gold or coc aine. Some of the bile is exported to Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, where it sells for as much as $1,400 an ounce.
But there are certain delicacies or culinary trends that are rarely encountered by most people, and the practice of dining on endangered animals is one of them.
Slow loris: Fur of this big-eyed, tree-dwelling primate is believed to accelerate healing of wounds. Extract from eyeballs is turned into love potion.
Civet cat: Anal scent gland used in potion to induce abortion. Used in Dragon, Tiger and Phoenix soup, for fighting arthritis, stimulating blood flow, and pepping up libido.
A tiger on the black market can fetch up to US$10,000 (RM38,000).
The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that as many as 80% of the world's more than six billion people rely primarily on animal and plant-based medicines.
Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is a holistic approach to healthcare where patients are treated using natural plant, mineral and animal-based ingredients. TCM dates back at least 3,000 years and is an indispensable part of Chinese cultural heritage
Although the use of animal parts in TCM is deeply engrained and such practices are slow to change, dialogue between conservationists and TCM practitioners is underway. The Third International Congress of Traditional Medicine, held in Toronto in September 2006, is one example of this. Sponsored by the International Fund for Animal Welfare, the Congress was organized around the belief that the ecosystems on which TCM was built must be preserved.
Many species of plants and animals are used in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) to treat impotence (typically erectile dysfunction [ED]; Bensky & Gamble 1993). Some of these taxa are overharvested for their medicinal uses and are now threatened. Efforts to conserve many of these taxa have failed because the market forces driving their commercial collection or poaching remain in place. Shortly after Viagra appeared on the market in 1998, we suggested that Viagra has the potential to eliminate demand for animal sexual potency products (von Hippel & von Hippel 1998). We suggested that the East Asian market in animal potency products could soon fall victim to Viagra's success because Viagra is less expensive than many of these animal products (Viagra costs US$ 8–10 per pill in the countries in which it is legalized) and Viagra's effectiveness is demonstrated (Giuliano et al. 1997; Morales et al. 1998; Sadovsky et al. 2001) rather than hoped for.
South Koreans, Taiwanese and Chinese tourist go to restaurants in Thailand where, one environmentalist told AP in the 1990s, "The bear is tortured to death in front of the diners. They say it makes the meat taste better. The cost of the bear banquet is now about 9,000 U.S. dollars.