Governments commit to ending tiger trade! - 22nd of March 2010

 21 March 2010 Doha, Qatar - International Tiger Coalition Report

Wild tigers held precious ground today, prompting the International Tiger Coalition (ITC to congratulate a United Nations wildlife treaty on protections that will help end tiger trade. 

Over 100 member countries of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) agreed to keep in place a decision that tigers should not be farmed for their parts and asked for additional actions to stop tiger trade. 

With wild tiger numbers as low as 3,000 and falling, the ITC is calling for an end to trade from all sources, including the thousands of tigers currently in intensive breeding centers in Asia.   

“If wild tigers are to gain the respite from poaching required to stop their precipitous decline, demand must stop once and for all,” said Judy Mills coordinator of the International Tiger Coalition.  “Products from tiger farms only prompt growth in demand for farmed and wild tigers.” 

Once widely used in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), tiger bone was removed from the official TCM pharmacopeia in 1993 to support of the CITES tiger-trade ban. 

“Enforcing the international ban on tiger trade was nearly impossible until tiger consuming countries introduced domestic tiger trade bans,” Mills said.  “The world owes these nations, especially China, a debt of gratitude for their responsible actions, and it’s clear CITES supports every effort to end all tiger trade.”