Moon Bears Rescued from Bile Farm in Vietnam

Ugh. It's great that they were saved, but they arrived at the rescue center in wretched condition. Moon bears are rare, which makes this all the sadder.

Please note that the illegal bile farm was Taiwanese-owned. Again, the China connection.

I can't read such stuff without being sickened by my species.

(Thank Animals Asia for the rescue. They are an amazing organization that we support financially.)

2010 Declared the Year of the Tiger...So What?

The Kathmandu Global Tiger Workshop declared 2010 to be the Year of the Tiger. The intention is to focus on saving the tiger species which is being decimated. I say so what? It's just lip service. When China won't support a ban on tiger farms, nor will it work to curb the ridiculous demand for tiger products in its own country, what's the point? China is the single biggest threat to the tiger and it won't participate seriously in its protection. So what if the tiger gets its own year? It's just fuzzy wuzzies and PR.

Tigers To Go Extinct in 15 Years? Thanks China!

It's not only China, but all Asian countries that are playing a major role in reducing this beautiful animal's number. As this article points out, tigers are worth more dead than alive if you use humanity's flawed accounting system.

Pangolins Saved from "Harvesting" by Trafficker

I had no idea what a pangolin was, but, thanks to Wikipedia, I now know it's a scaly anteater.

And, surprise, their "harvesting" is tied back to ....CHINA!

From Red Orbit....

In its biggest seizures of pangolins this year, Malaysia’s Wildlife and National Parks Department confiscated 98 animals from a house in Alor Setar in the northern state of Kedah.

After about three weeks of surveillance and investigations, the department’s Wildlife Crime Unit raided the house early Wednesday morning and found the smuggled pangolins along with 6.5 pounds of pangolin scales..

"We believe the animals were destined to be sold to Asian countries for their meat, as well as their scales to be used as traditional medicine," the department's enforcement chief Saharudin Anan told AFP.

Central London Shop Raided for Illegal Wildlife Products

Not surprisingly, they raided a shop selling Chinese traditional medicines.

From the Telegraph...

Detectives seized 200 products believed to be made from endangered animals including musk deer, leopards and tigers.

The store in Lisle Street, at the heart of London's Chinatown, specialises in traditional Asian medicine.

The raid took place on the day an amendment to the law controlling illegal trade in endangered species came into effect.

The regulations closed a legal loophole which enabled traders to pretend animal products came from countries with lower levels of protection.

Baby Tiger Victim of Wildlife Trade

Sometimes I'm just embarrassed to be human...

From EcoWorldly...

...the frozen carcass of a baby tiger was found in the trunk of a taxi cab on its way to a buyer in Hanoi.

It was reported that two men were arrested for attempting to transport the baby tiger carcass - along with the bones of at least two tigers - and that the “case showed the possibility of larger-scale tiger trafficking in the country.” The baby tiger was between four and five months old.

Sharp Increase in Rhino Poaching

It's the highest rate in 15 years, with an increasing market in Asian traditional medicines. Organized crime is also heavily involved in trafficking of rhino products and other endangered species'.

This statement in the USA Today article says it all...

"Rhino poaching is no longer used as a means of survival and sustenance,” says Susie Ellis of the International Rhino Foundation, in a statement.

Demand for Wildlife Products on the Rise in China

The Chinese want them for exotic foods and for medicine.

From the China Daily...

The trade in TCM {Traditional Chinese Medicine} products has also been growing at an annual rate of 10 percent, which has seriously impacted medicinal plant and animal populations, though more than half of plants and animals being used by TCM are from artificial propagation or captive breeding. Up to 20 percent of these are now considered threatened.

Eating wild animals is also a traditional practice in southern China. The consumption of wild animals, which slowed amid the SARS epidemic in 2003, has once again gained popularity, a WWF survey has found.

Profit from illegal trade can be up to 10 times the cost, with restaurant operators offering the exotic dishes usually aware of the violation but lured by the gains, Xu {Hongfa, director of the World Wildlife Fund's (WWF) TRAFFIC East Asia China Program} said.

Illegal trade in tiger meat and bones is also alive, continuing to threaten the extinction of an already depleted species, he said.