Calls from within China to lift the ban on the trade of tiger parts have been widely publicised over the last month. I didn’t get a chance to mention Xinhua’s recent story on the issue before going on holiday so I might as well do it now.
The article featured a revealing interview with Liu Dan, chief engineer of the Harbin tiger park. The park is known in the Xinhua database as “the world’s largest Siberian tiger breeding base” and over the past few years there have been several stories detailing the efforts of Liu Dan and his colleagues to reintroduce tigers into the wild. But this latest interview exposes the Harbin park as a fraud.
I was actually under the false impression that the park was funded by the local government but it is a private venture and therefore primarily a business. In the Xinhua report, Liu says the legalisation of the trade of tiger parts is his “dream”. It is obvious that money has always been the preoccupation of the park. In fact, the opinion of the writer of this story is that “park” is far too generous a term - it is a farm just like this one in Guilin.
I visited the park in January and it was a truly depressing experience. A convoy of jeeps trundling through a series of caged enclosures each containing far too many tigers per square metre. I’m no expert but it looked as if there was no effort whatsoever to prepare these animals for the wild. The South China Morning Post reported in 2005 that an agreement had been reached among animal parks and zoos to stop feeding live prey to animals in front of visitors. The menu in the Harbin park says 1,000 yuan for a live cow. And in December last year, a Xinhua report quoted Liu as saying ”some tigers had become friends”. Hardly preparation for the Siberian wilderness.
In hindsight, the proposal by Liu to lift the ban was inevitable. For the last couple of years, he has complained of overpopulation even though the park has just been meeting targets set in 2002. And he is spending two million yuan a year to keep more than 100 dead tigers in freezers. Meanwhile, the park is no closer to being able to release an artifically-bred Siberian tiger into the wild for the first time. This next bit is very cynical: back in November last year the park manager said that the tigers were being kept hungry for one day a week to “arouse their wild instincts” - what a great way to save a few bob!
Statistics prove that the ban on tiger trade imposed by the Chinese government in 1993 has been a success. Yet, Liu ignores them. Apparently the park’s investors are flexing their sizeable ”guanxi” but surely the international outcry would be too great for the government to rescind the ban. Having said that, it would be a lot cheaper than having to bail out 5,000 captive-bred tigers. It seems the only solution is for the government to provide enough funding to ensure the focus of the Harbin park is on reintroducing tigers into the wild rather than keeping the freezers running.
Will | 10-May-07 at 10:06 am | Permalink
As far as I know there has never been a captive-bred tiger successfully introduced into the wild. I am not even sure that it is possible to introduce a tiger reared by people or captive parents into the wild. Even if instinctive behavior is intact, there is almost certainly a substantial learned component in mature tiger behavior, much of which probably comes from being reared in the wild. Some more insight on this can be gained from Temple Grandin’s book “Animals in Translation”. So it’s pretty clear that the whole “reintroducing tigers into the wild” idea is a fig leaf for a zoo at best and a farm at worst.
On the other hand, tigers are essentially extinct in the wild. I just returned from a week in Sumatra where they use camera traps to survey the tiger population in the Kerinci Seblat National Park. It sounds like tiger sightings are pretty rare these days, and that remaining tigers=not many.
So the question we all might have to contemplate is whether we prefer a world without tigers or a world with only farmed tigers.
Not to justify the Harbin park. I went there two years ago and found it as bleak as you did. It displays the singular lack of imagination the Chinese demonstrate in the display of wildlife. With the possible exception of the pickled tiger skeleton on display.
Rene | 11-May-07 at 5:46 pm | Permalink
Considering the recent brouhaha over a five-year old girl being killed by a tiger at the park, I doubt that the Chinese populace is so keen to reintroduce the tigers to the wild.
Thanks for the post. As a resident of Harbin for 3 years, I can’t say I expected anything less than these recent developments. I wonder if attention will now turn to the crane park North of here, which has the similar purpose of “reintroduction.”
Alai | 11-May-07 at 6:54 pm | Permalink
I went there before the ban as a part of a class trip. People were purchasing ducks and chickens to feed the lions and tigers — around RMB20, if I recall correctly. Our trip leader refused to allow anyone to chip in to purchase a cow, am I’m glad that she did, as I was disgusted enough by the park without the thought of a poor live cow running away from the tigers whilst chunks of its flesh are being ripped out.
David D | 15-May-07 at 12:25 pm | Permalink
This post got a mention in shanghaiist.com, a pretty decent website about Shanhai and beyond.
David D | 15-May-07 at 8:25 pm | Permalink
There was a big feature in a recent issue of the South China Morning Post magazine about Xiongsen park in Guilin (mentioned in the Guardian link in this post) which has about 1,300 tigers. It uses their bones to make tiger wine and even gives their skins away as “gifts” to generous donators.
The information is actually quite a bit different to that in the Guardian article. If anyone has a special interest in it you can email me.
Natasha | 25-May-07 at 11:16 pm | Permalink
I would like to get in touch with David D to get some more information on the Guardian article about the Xiongsen park in Guilin. For almost a year now I am investigating and donig research on the future of wild cats in captivity which will be pretty much so the only possible option for the existence of these animals. I visited parks and sanctuaries throughout the United states were a lagere of wild animals including wild cats like tigers and lions are being held, preserved and given shelter. Though here a s well there is quite a large grey area determinating wether the kept animals are being truely protected or exploided. The phenomenon of canned hunting is known to make use of wild animals from so called game farms who often on the other side claim to be a sanctuary for wildlife. I was fortunate enough to be in touch with some genuine bonafide organizations though.
Anyone who has more information about this topic please contact me.
Barun | 26-Jun-07 at 8:42 pm | Permalink
While it is true that no has even tried to rewild captive bred tigers, so far, there are many zoologists and biologists who think that it may not be impossible. The most famous case of captive big cat is that of Elsa of ‘Born Free’ fame. And now a very innovative programme is being undertaken by the charity Save China’s Tigers with the help of the Chinese government.
Four captive bred tigers (South China Tigers sub-species) have been sent to 200 sq km facility in South Africa. They are being weaned awa from their handlers, and the tigers have begun to hunt small animals. One the tigers died last year, and has been replaced with another a month ago. The expectation is that wild instints in these tigers will be revived. Given the large size of the hold up area, there is enough space for them to chase and attempt to bring down somewhat larger preys, such as deers. In a few years time, the progenies of the present generation tigers in South Africa should be as wild as possible, having hardly ever encountered humans. And these are being proposed to be released in two designated wild tiger territories which have been identifed in southern China.
A recent article of mine on this issue is available on the China Daily web site http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/opinion/2007-06/22/content_900075.htm
And I would like to share information and ideas with those seriously interested in this issue. Please email