Tiger Products Trade Still Legal In Japan Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit June 3, 1999 Tiger products trade still legal in Japan In Japan it is still legal to sell tiger parts and products which are deemed "not readily recognizable." In other words it is LEGAL for anyone to sell tiger bones, Tiger Penises and other products, such as Tiger bone pills, capsules and wine. This trade in tiger parts is the number one reason for the poachers of Asia continuing the slaughter of the few remain wild tigers. Japan is the major consumer country in the world where the sale of tiger parts is still legal. Tiger bones, tiger penises and other parts are readily available for open purchase in every city in Japan. Trade in tiger products is banned under CITES, to which Japan has been a signatory since 1980. However, despite this and recent CITES resolutions requesting all Parties to take positive action to protect tigers, including prohibiting domestic trade in tiger parts, the Government of Japan has refused to ban the internal sale of tiger products which are not 'readily recognizable.' Tiger bones, tiger penises and other parts are deemed 'not recognizable.' Recent surveys by the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) and TRAFFIC have confirmed the widespread availability of tiger products in Japan. EIA investigators visited 26 traditional Chinese pharmacies in Tokyo and Yokohama in late 1998, and found that 54% of them - including a department store in the center of Tokyo - were selling products, which contained, or claimed to contain, tiger. Three 'virility product shops' were also visited. All were selling products labeled as containing tiger parts. A catalogue in one of these shops offered powdered tiger penis. EIA investigators also found bear gall bladder, rhino horn, snake, lizard, a monkey head and hand, deer antler, sea horse, seal penis, wolf penis, turtles, insects and a whale fetus in the course of their survey in Japan. TRAFFIC investigators carried out a survey of 54 dispensaries and pharmacies, as well as a telephone survey of restaurants and food stores, throughout Japan between October 1998 and January 1999. They reported that "it remains easy to obtain medicinal products containing Tiger bone in Japan," and added that "there is no law regulating the domestic trade in those tiger parts and tiger-derived products." There are fewer than 5,000 to 7,000 tigers left in the wild. Such a small world population, which is widely scattered in isolated pockets, simply cannot survive unless there is an immediate worldwide ban in the trade in tiger parts. The Wildlife Protection Society of India (WPSI) has documented 95 cases of tigers known to have been killed by poachers in 1994, 123 tigers killed in 1995, 52 tigers killed in 1996, 88 tigers killed in 1997, 41 tigers killed in 1998, and 25 tigers killed to date in 1999. These figures represent only a fraction of the actual poaching and trade in tiger parts in India. http://www.savetigers.org/register%20form.htm ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org e-mail: nyt@blythe.org ================================================================= nytas-06.10.99-01:18:51-8360