Is Tiger Bone Wine Being Sold In China?
Recent Reports Show Bottles Of The Claimed Medicine For Sale
Aug 26, 2008
The EIA reported that agents made several trips to China in 2007, where even as late as December bottles labeled as tiger bone wine was being sold by wild animal parks.
While the EIA could not prove that the wine contained actual tiger bones, it is clear that the product is in high demand and selling well. The wine is believed to have medicinal properties and because of this, many tiger farms in China are pressuring the government to lift the ban on products containing tiger.
The Scientific Study Of Tiger Bone Wine
Bone wine is a tincture made from steeping bones, either whole or crushed, in a vat of wine for at least one year. Ancient Asian belief is that tiger bones can be used by people for a variety of health benefits, mostly to alleviate arthritis and strengthen human bones.
But in a scientific evaluation by Sheng Helin, a professor at the East China Normal University (through an English translation by Elaine Hsiao, Caroline Liou and Xu Ling), states, "Recent studies indicate that tiger bones do not contain anything special and that its elements are not any different from that of dog bones, lamb bones, pig bones and other mammal bones. The only difference is in the quantities of each element."
Searching For Evidence Of Tiger Bone Wine
At the Qinhuangdao wild animal park in the Hebei Province, EIA investigators found a business manager who showed them boxes of packaged tiger bone wine and assured them that real tiger bones were used, but would not show them the bones or where the wine was made. The manager showed investigators a permit supposedly granting the park the right to sell the wine by the government.
The United Nations' Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species also conducted an investigation in 2007 at the Guilin Xiongsen Tigers and Bears Mountain Village, where bone wine was being sold in tiger-shaped bottles. CITES published in its Report By the CITES Secretariat on its Verification and Assessment Mission to China that the owner of the village showed them a freezer where tiger carcasses were being stored.
The owner clamed, though, that the wine being sold there was actually made from lion bones used as a substitute for tiger, and that the bottles were shaped like tigers because they hold greater significance to the Chinese people. While lions are a vulnerable species, they are not endangered and therefore not illegal to use to make bone wine.
Whether that wine for sale included actual tiger bone or not, current regulations by the CITES have made it illegal to sell any product that merely claims to contain parts of a protected plant or animal, whether or not those parts a prove to be in the actual product.
Like the EIA investigators, the CITES agents could not view the actual process of wine-making, but in a March 12th 2007 article called "The Factory Farm Tigers Being Turned Into Wine," Daily Mail reporter Danny Penman claims to have viewed the process at the same Xiongsen village.
Penman wrote, "A piece of string was pulled out of the vat. Attached to the end was a tiger's rib cage. Small slivers of dark red flesh could still be seen clinging to the bone, even though it had probably been in the vat for at least three years."
The Demand For Tigers And Their Bones
Penman also says in his article that a fellow tourist bought a pint of wine directly from the vat being shown to them. From both the EIA and CITES reports, it is clear that the wine is bought regularly by consumers who believe in its medicinal value. The CITES agents were told by the Xiongsen owner that one wine-making facility had 900 vats, each one of which could produce 4,000 bottles at a time. Clearly, the volume of wine produced indicates there is a strong market for this product.
If the pressure from wild animal farms on the Chinese government to legalize the production and sales of tiger bone wine were to be successful, there would be no more need for the farms to hide the production or to be coy about what ingredients go into it.
In a June 9th 2008 press release from the EIA, tiger campaign head Debbie Banks states that it would not just be the tigers within the farms that would be used. "Lifting the ban would increase demand and lead to a surge in poaching of India’s already embattled wild tiger populations. It would be all too easy to launder their skins, bones and parts among those from legalised tiger farms. This would be effectively declare an open season on wild tigers," she said.
