Wild tigers face uncertain future in China

WASHINGTON, July 7 (UPI) -- The Chinese have a potentially huge appetite for tiger products but want them made from wild tigers, not farm-raised ones, U.S. researchers have found.

Scientists from the Save the Tiger Fund, a program of the U.S. National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, said data collected from a representative sample of people living in seven major cities in China reveals that while the Chinese public overwhelmingly supports their nation's ban on selling tiger products, 43 percent of respondents admit consuming products they believed to contain tiger parts. Within that group, 71 percent said they preferred products made from wild tigers to those from farmed tigers.

"We finally have data that show if China reopens tiger trade, all bets are off for the survival of wild tigers," said Judy Mills, director of the Campaign Against Tiger Trafficking. "The remaining 4,000 tigers left in the wild would not stand a chance if demand were reignited among China's 1.3 billion consumers."

China banned domestic trade in medicines and health tonics made from tiger bones in 1993.

The research appears in the online journal PLoS One.