As you read this, believe me, it is nothing new. And, get this, some tiger parks are using these incidents to argue for tiger FARMS. Apparently, this is a better way to preserve the species??
Animal rights activists called Monday for improved living conditions at China's wild animal parks after the deaths of captive tigers from disease and starvation, including a tiger killed by four other cats in a fight over meager food supplies at a zoo in northeast China.
The more than 30 tigers in the Bing Chuan park in Shenyang have been receiving less than their normal allowance of about 11 pounds of frozen chicken and beef per day because of lack of funding, said a park official, who gave only his surname, Li.
....Jeff He, communications manager for the International Fund for Animal Welfare in China, said the tiger parks were using such incidents to pressure the government into lifting a 1993 ban on domestic trade in tiger parts, which are prized in traditional Chinese medicine.
Inadequate regulations on the number of animal parks and a lack of animal welfare legislation were compounding the problems and playing into the operators' hands, He said.
"I think that if these types of wild parks cannot afford so many tigers, then the best way is to actually control it so that this kind of tragedy doesn't happen," He said.
Operators already have some government support for lifting the ban.
Chinese officials have reportedly sought support for plans to farm tigers for their body parts, from India, home to the world's largest remaining wild tiger population, which opposes lifting the ban.
Photo by CameraGurl.
1 comment:
I once heard a quote that is zoos are animal jails, then Chinese zoos are death row. Not enough food, tiny cages and they don't replicate the natural environments the creatures should be living in. Of course, if you watch the way the Chinese slaughter animals for food (beyond barbaric), it makes since that they put no value on animal suffering.
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