Help save the last 3,200 wild tigers. Help ban the tiger trade!
Tigers slaughtered to produce tiger bone paste! Unfortunately this is the grave reality for why tigers are being slaughtered to fuel the illegal tiger trade in Vietnam. The Vietnamese are using the bones of wild tigers to produce this paste which they use as a traditional pain killer. There is no scientific backing to show that any part of the tiger is beneficial to human ailments, yet so many of our wild big cats end up in this trade.
2015 is an important year for the tiger. Following intense discussions at CITES in July 2014 some very specific recommendations on tigers were adopted:
Countries are to ensure that their legislation prohibits domestic trade, including in parts of captive bred tigers.
It requires those who are currently trading to report the scale of that trade.
It requires countries to report on the volume of existing stockpiles.
It requires countries to destroy the bodies of deceased captive tigers.
By signing this petition you will help protect wild tigers by calling for an end to policies and practices that stimulate demand for tiger parts and products, and thus stimulate poaching. You will also be helping raise expectations with regards to the implementation of international resolutions and commitments and to stop stimulating the demand in domestic and wild tiger parts through compliance with international guidelines and resolutions (CITES, GTRP).
The stimulation of the demand of tiger products stems from these main sources: Tiger "farms" - Trade in parts and products of tigers that have been bred in captivity takes place in China, Thailand, Laos and Vietnam. In China domestic trade is legal and skins of captive bred tigers from "zoos" and "farms" can be traded as luxury home décor, so long as they have been bred legally, are processed by a licensed company and come with a government-issued permit. In Thailand, Laos and Vietnam, trade in parts and products of captive-bred tigers is illegal. Tiger farming does NOT stop the illegal killing of wild tigers. In fact it has the opposite effect stimulating wider demand for tiger parts from ALL sources and undermining international efforts to put an end to the tiger trade.
