According to several reports in the British press (see here, here and here), investigators for the UK-based Environmental Investigation Agency had little trouble procuring illegal tiger wine from so-called wildlife rescue centres in China.

The wine, made by steeping a tiger carcass in cheap booze, is used by many for medicinal purposes, but it has been banned in Chinese domestic trade since 1993 as well as under the UN Convention on International Trade in Endangereds Species. At the Nature offices we weren’t too surprised by the news that tiger parks are apparently flouting those rules. A freelancer who worked on a tiger story for us, Jerry Guo, had no problem tracking down two bottles when he was writing about the Hengdaohezi Feline Breeding Centre (story here, subscription required) – not one of the two parks visited by investigators.

Jerry just asked around at the train station until a taxi driver agreed to take him to a store that specializes in wildlife products. He also saw 200 carcasses in a freezer that a researcher willingly offered were meant for the illegal wine trade — something he hoped would offset the costs of saving the tigers. While it’s nice to hope that these parks offer some refuge for the dwindling wild population of tigers, the reality of what goes on is far darker.

Posted on behalf of Brendan Maher

Image: C. Jennings